The machine conducts a quality check of the meals provided to the students
A unique artificial intelligence-based machine has been installed at Todsa Ashram School of Etapalli in Maharashtra in a bid to improve the nutrition level of tribal children of Gadchiroli. According to the news agency ANI, the initiative was taken by the administration under project Bhamragad and there are eight government schools part of it.
Notably, the machine takes a photo of the student with her/his plate of food and within a few seconds, without any human intervention, identifies whether the quality of the food is good.
Watch the video here:
''When I used to come to this all-girls Ashram School, I used to feel that they lack nutrition. When we had a preliminary BMI analysis, we found that 61 girls out of the 222 were malnourished. Meals are provided here thrice a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner. The quantity of the food is up to the mark, and we also follow the menu. So, we wanted to ascertain the cause,'' Shubham Gupta, Assistant Collector of Etapalli and Project Director of Integrated Tribal Development Project told ANI.
He further said that he came in touch with an NGO which introduced him to a startup, that made a machine which could assess the quality of food being served.
“I came in touch with an NGO that further connected me to a startup. We deployed here this machine designed by them… Through this machine, we have tried to implement improvement in not only the quantity but also the quality of food. Data collected here can be accessed by Headmaster and me. We have installed it in one of the 8 Ashram Schools so far," he said.
Mr Gupta said that the administration is achieving good results from the project and the quality of food has improved.
''The results are very positive. We installed it in September 2022. The quality of food has improved since then and children's BMI has also improved,'' he added.