prototype · 2025

MessDetect.

A small computer-vision project I built to watch the mess-hall queue and count heads in real time, so students could check the wait before walking down. The model worked. Getting actual camera access in the hall did not.

What it is#

A small computer-vision project that watches a queue through a camera, counts heads, and streams the count to a tiny dashboard. The idea was that students could check the wait from their hostel block instead of walking down on a guess.

I trained a small detection model on hall footage to handle morning and evening lighting, built a quick tool to mark the queue zone per camera, and pushed the live count to the dashboard so it felt actually live.

Where it stopped#

The vision part worked. Getting permission and a physical place to mount a camera in the hall did not. The project lives on as a prototype I can demo from a laptop webcam, but it never made it into the mess.

What I’d do differently#

Talk to the people who control the camera mount before training the model.