SeVa: A Food Donation App for Smart Living

Christina Varghese, Drashti Pathak and Aparna S. Varde

Department of Computer Science
Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA
christinak390@[Link], drashtimuni90@[Link], vardea@[Link]

Abstract – An important goal in our world today is to eliminate if food suppliers intend to donate food through the SeVa app,
food waste by reutilizing available food sources within local they can enter the type of food they would donate, the
communities: leftover food items in restaurants, stores and food quantity of the item(s), date of expiry, whether the items are
distribution centers that may be approaching expiration; and perishable and so on. These are a few mandatory entries (for
any perishable items not used in entirety within their desired
consumers to be aware of the food). There are parameters
period. This is highly significant, particularly during crises such
as the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper focuses on creating an such as geographic and temporal ones to ensure freshness of
2021 IEEE 11th Annual Computing and Communication Workshop and Conference (CCWC) | 978-1-6654-1490-6/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/CCWC51732.2021.9375945

interesting mobile application (app) called SeVa that provides a the food upon delivery. Certain foods may have a short shelf
ubiquitous platform wherein users can visualize available food life, thus we have distance and time constraints incorporated
resources in their local area and consequently gain access to into the app, based on the addresses and times of availability.
food, thereby tackling two major issues, i.e. hunger and food Principles from constraint satisfaction problems in AI are
waste. This app is pertinent to the UN SDGs (United Nations incorporated within the execution accordingly.
Sustainable Development Goals) and fits the general realm of AI
for Smart Living in Smart Cities. In addition to entailing IoT
(Internet of Things) and ubiquitous computing, this work makes
positive impacts on both healthcare and environment by
reducing hunger and food waste respectively. We describe our
SeVa app development using principles from AI, and especially
HCI (Human Computer Interaction), along with its evaluation
encompassing user surveys. We also list some open issues with
the scope for future work.
Keywords --- AI in Smart Cities; App Development; COVID-19;
Food Waste Elimination; HCI; Healthcare; Hunger Alleviation;
IoT; Smart Living; Ubiquitous Computing

Fig. 1. Students getting food packets during COVID-19 school closures [1]

I. INTRODUCTION The app name SeVa is inspired by a Sanskrit word “Seva”

The year 2020 has been hit with challenging times due to the which means “selfless service”. This is an important practice
spread of COVID-19, i.e. the novel coronavirus infectious in many South Asian cultures. It can be defined as “the act of
disease. In the midst of this global pandemic, the entire world compassion and care for others above oneself [2].” Fig. 2
population has been left to endure drastic consequences. With depicts an example of selfless service related to food in places
shortage of quantities in daily essentials such as disinfectant of worship, as surveyed by National Geographic [3]. While
sprays, antiseptic wipes and hand sanitizers, along with lack this has been practiced for ages, it is particularly apt today,
of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as facemasks since the COVID-19 crisis has affected many people due to
and respirators, another major issue has been food shortage! food-related issues. We consider health and safety for all,
The immediate shutdown of public schools has impacted placing the needs of others above our own, as embodied in
school children adversely since many of them depend on the this concept. Hence, we choose the name SeVa for our app.
free meals from schools daily. To overcome this problem, There has been wastage of food since new regulations
there have been food donation centers [1] distributing food as have been enforced on immediate shutdown of restaurants.
shown in Fig. 1. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought us Since customers have no longer been visiting the venues,
into a new age operating businesses using a more AI-based plenty of food has probably been wasted. Some people have
virtual environment until daily operations resume as usual. taken preemptive measures and turned it into an opportunity
Some businesses have taken this opportunity to enhance their to serve essential workers. Many residents have bought gift
AI-related platforms with new demographics. Several food cards from stores and restaurants to support local businesses.
vendors are learning from this newfound opportunity. Our app is in the category of such efforts. While such food
Given this background and challenges, we feel truly waste and hunger related issues are prominent during crises
motivated to address the problem of food shortage affected such as COVID-19, they are also significant otherwise. The
by COVID-19. This is achieved via the development of a United Nations (UN) has Sustainable Development Goals
novel mobile application (app) called SeVa to help in food (SDGs) [4], among which some goals entail the following.
donation. The SeVa app is designed to act a middleman SDG1 - No Poverty, SDG2: Zero Hunger, SDG3: Good
between the food supplier (vendor) and consumer. We create Health and Well Being, and SDG11: Sustainable Cities and
a knowledge base (KB) within the app for users to access, in Community. Our SeVa app targets these goals.
order to communicate with each other. Both types of users The development of SeVa occurs using principles from AI
(suppliers and consumers) can login and select the option that and in particular, Human Computer Interaction (HCI). For
fits their profile to create an account. They can enter the example, we use Fitt’s Law which relates location time of an
information required to get the desired output. For example, object in an app to the object’s size and other parameters [5].

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 Other relevant concepts deployed herein include metaphors, Feedie is an application that turns a customer’s photo into
affordance, stakeholders, ethnographic studies, wireframes, donations. When the user takes a picture of a dish from a
constraint satisfaction and commonsense knowledge, as participating restaurant, that restaurant makes a donation to a
elaborated later in this paper. non-profit organization known as the “Lunchbox Fund”. This
Based on this overview, we explain design, development application is available in the United States and South Africa.
and evaluation of our SeVa app, currently in its prototype For every set of 500 restaurants that joins the program, 5000
phase with a possible release on the roadmap after a few South African children get free meals for a year. Hence, this
enhancements. This work contributes to AI in Smart Living, encourages social media users to share their craving for food
via ubiquitous access on mobile devices for sustainability; while contributing to a noble cause. Flashfood, found in the
and through incorporation of AI-related principles in the app US and Canada, is an application to solve the problem of food
design. It thus makes a positive impact on AI in Smart Cities. worth around $5000 being discarded. It helps to sell foods
approaching expiration dates at a discount, so that low costs
can guarantee quick buys. Thus, the produce is not wasted
and can get to the consumer quicker without the worry of
overspending on items. Food for All is another application,
catering to Boston and NYC areas, with the aim of food waste
elimination in the restaurant industry. This app connects
restaurants to users for getting discounted meals that they can
buy for their own consumption or donate to the needy [10].
B. AI and Smart Living in the COVID-19 Crisis
In the light of the COVID-19 health crisis, there is a call for
global AI investigators to conduct more research on the
coronavirus. Some institutes with the help of AI are providing
real-time data. Machine learning algorithms are being used to
Fig. 2. Food-related service in India (National Geographic) [3]
enhance studying the virus’ patterns and spread. AI is also
helping in survival prediction of severe COVID-19 patients
II. RELATED WORK and in finding possible medication to combat the virus [11].
Since there is urgency to obtain coronavirus data in real-
A. Food Insecurity Problems and Smart Living Solutions time, AI scientists are deploying methods to aid medical
Food insecurity is known as the “limited and uncertain professionals, e.g. through a research challenge resource of
availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods” [6]. In 138,000+ articles on COVID-19 and related viruses, with
the year 2018, 1 in 9 Americans were food insecure, i.e. 37 69,000+ being full text [12]. The English-Corpora website
million Americans; 11 million of them were children. Some has a dedicated section for obtaining data on COVID-19,
factors that cause food insecurity are lack of resources, often called “The Coronavirus Corpus” having articles of 370
related to poverty. Though not all households below poverty million words and growing, with dialects from 20 countries
line experience this, the intersection of other issues such as [13]. It ranges from January 2020 to date and entails
health concerns, high rents and high household expenses economic, social and cultural impacts of COVID-19.
often cause food insecurity [7]. The “No Kid Hungry” Nations worldwide are displaying quick responses to get
mission [8] indicates that “more than 11 million children in rid of the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Learning [14] is a
the United States live in food insecure homes”. While this site website where doctors, nurses, medical students and other
conveys pre-COVID-19 information, the estimates are that essential healthcare workers can gain access to free course
18 million children could face hunger post-COVID-19. Many materials to best approach and tackle the pandemic. It lists an
of us feel a moral need to address this crisis. We believe that array of courses on introduction to COVID-19, primary care
our SeVa app can take a small step here towards developing during a pandemic, critical care of COVID patients and
an efficient system to help reduce hunger and food waste. control of infection with personal protective equipment,
In the United States, food waste is projected as at least alongside other courses [14]. In China, the government in
40% of the food supply [9]. This amounts to approximately collaboration with Alipay has created an application to allow
$161 billion worth of food (as of 2010). It brings attention to its residents to pinpoint the fact that they have been in close
other wasted resources such as time, money and labor costs contact with people who have tested positive for COVID-19.
to produce and transport foods that are unfortunately wasted. It has gained nationwide popularity with usage in over 200
In 2015, USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) cities [15]. Aarogya Setu from India, an app available in 11
alongside Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined languages, is one of the fastest growing applications, with 50
forces with a goal to cut the US food waste by 50% by 2030. million users in 13 days [16]. The function of this app is to
A useful step to recover and recycle wasted food is to donate notify users when they are in close contact with someone who
excess food that is healthy and safe. Secondly, a proper has COVID-19. This is done by the use of GPS tracking and
product handling supply chain with storage, labelling and Bluetooth with a social graph to track users. Such apps also
transportation to maintain freshness from production to offer instructions on self-quarantine procedures and actions
consumption can be developed. Food no longer edible can be to be taken if the user gets infected by the virus [16]. These
reprocessed into animal feed, compost, bioenergy etc. [9]. apps contribute to Smart Living by making a positive impact
Existing applications are making an effort to eliminate on healthcare, providing quick and easy information on
food waste and contribute to Smart Living [10]. For example, devices such as smartphones, and aiming to achieve a better

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 quality of life. Issues on such developments, e.g. anonymized We use these fields in the app layout. It is fascinating to note
phone location tracking, contact tracing apps are addressed the motivation of the stakeholders for our SeVa app, inspired
by Klonowska et al. [17], mainly from an EU (European by their own desire for selfless service! We also conduct
Union) perspective. Their claims apply to a global context. ethnographic studies. Ethnography in HCI refers to “social
Our SeVa app is in line with such apps. Yet it is organization of activities to understand work, particularly in
somewhat novel in the sense of providing quite a different the design of collaborative systems” [24]. This entails direct
functionality to assist food donation through ubiquitous observation, comprehension of rules and procedures, and
interactive display of relevant knowledge on food for illustration with workflow diagrams. During our visits to
suppliers and consumers. Based on our literature search, stakeholder sites, we perform these tasks and collect relevant
there is nothing identical to SeVa in other apps, to the best of ethnographic data, e.g. amounts of leftover food in a café,
our knowledge. The SeVa app targets COVID-19 food relief, significant attributes of food such as perishability. We
in addition to addressing UN SDGs on hunger, poverty and incorporate these aspects while creating our app layouts.
healthcare [4]. This app aids Smart Living via HCI-based 3. Conceptual Design Construction: This process typically
ubiquitous access to useful knowledge that positively impacts involves outlining wireframes i.e. initial mockup designs to
healthcare and environment by helping to reduce hunger and serve as blueprints for further work [25]. Thus, we make
food waste. Smart Living is an important characteristic of wireframes for the SeVa app based on our own creative ideas,
Smart Cities [18]. This work thus spans AI in Smart Cities, various features suggested by stakeholders and data from our
analogous to other research [19, 20]. It is supplementary to ethnographic studies. For example, our wireframe has fields
our own work on app development in related areas [21, 22, “storage method” for the food supplier and “allergy / dietary
23] and thus builds upon our experience therein. restrictions” for food consumers based on our ethnographic
studies since these are critical issues, especially in the United
States. The wireframe has a simple outline with entry fields.
III. APP DEVELOPMENT: DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION 4. Design Evaluation by Stakeholders: This process in HCI
A. Design of the SeVa App leverages feedback from stakeholders on wireframes created
in conceptual design. Typically app designs are subject to
refinement based on assessment by stakeholders [25]. In our
SeVa app design evaluation, we offer simple questionnaires
to our stakeholders and have direct discussions with them to
get their feedback on the wireframes. The final design of the
app is revised using feedback given by the stakeholders while
exploring the mockup design. An example of such feedback
is the inclusion of icons. In HCI terms, these are addressed
via the concept of a metaphor that can be defined as “a way
of visualizing an operation, e.g. an icon of a shopping cart
into which we place items we wish to purchase on an online
shopping site” [24]. Likewise, we include a metaphor for the
operation of SeVa (selfless service) on the welcome screen of
the app and also add descriptive icons with the food supplier
and consumer buttons for quick and easy comprehension.
These are some outcomes of stakeholder feedback.
Fig. 3. HCI-Based App Design Steps 5. Final App Design: In HCI, the final app design is usually
We explain the design of our SeVa app that deploys several iterative [24]. It can proceed with just one iteration of design
principles from HCI [24]. An overview of our design appears evaluation in a smaller context. In larger systems it can entail
in Fig. 3. A good interaction design must incorporate targeted multiple iterations until stakeholders are satisfied (analogous
users’ needs and concerns [25]. Thus, our app design entails to the spiral model of software development as opposed to the
the following steps. waterfall model). Given that our SeVa app is in its prototype
phase, and also given that we target a small region and
1. Stakeholder Identification: In HCI, stakeholders are clientele for food donation catering mostly to stakeholders in
“people or organizations who will be affected by the system NJ-NY, the final app design occurs in one iteration. This is
and who have a direct or indirect influence on the system also due to the fact that our stakeholders are very cooperative,
requirements” [24]. For example, in a food donation context, giving satisfactory evaluations the first time.
these can be restaurant employees and food shelter workers. The app design adheres to the HCI concept of affordance,
In our SeVa app, we specifically identify stakeholders as: i.e. “an attribute of an object that allows people to know how
NGO (non-governmental organization) managers, café to use it” [24]. In other words, this implies making its
owners, grocery store owners and other similar occupations function obvious through its appearance, e.g. “a cup handle
with a good demographics of age and ethnicity. Most of these affords holding” [24], since by looking at a cup it is obvious
are from the NJ-NY area, easily accessible to us for visits. that we should use its handle for holding it. In AI terms, such
2. Social Interaction for Interface Design: During the aspects constitute commonsense knowledge (CSK) i.e. a
interface design, we conduct interviews of the stakeholders simple, intuitive understanding of basic day-to-day concepts.
with regard to their suggestions, ideas and opinions based on We inadvertently deploy the AI paradigm of CSK in our app
the potential usability of the app, e.g. entry fields in the app design by implementing the HCI principle of affordance.
interface from a food consumer versus food supplier angle. Therefore, we design the app screens in such a manner as to

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 make it obvious to people how to use the respective functions. suppliers and consumers are not anticipated to be very high
Note that metaphors significantly help to enable affordance in number. In other words, this constitutes “small data”. We
in the SeVa app design. thus use SQLite [27] for persistence-capable storage of data
Another important HCI concept, namely, Fitt’s Law [5] is inserted by users (suppliers and consumers) and for the
used herewith. This states the following. knowledge extracted from that data. This forms the
knowledge base (KB) of the app. SQLite is used here because
T = k log2 (D/S +1.0) where it is freeware and open source. Since the SeVa prototype app
T = time to move the pointer to an object has “small data” of the order of MB, SQLite is good for
D=distance between the pointer and the object
S=size of the object
storage and retrieval needs. Also, our SeVa app is motivated
k is a constant of approximately 200ms/bit by selfless service, devoid of external funding, thus it is
feasible to use freeware: SQLite and Android Studio. The
This means that the time to locate an object is inversely process for input-output execution in the SeVa app is shown
proportional to the object’s size and directly proportional to in Algorithm 1 (for one instance of data entry and search).
its distance from the starting point. Hence, by incorporating
Fitt’s Law, the various objects in our app (data entry fields,
icons, buttons etc.) are designed such that: they are large
enough for the user to spot, thus requiring less time to search;
and close enough to the opening screen, thereby not requiring
too much navigation.
This final design that takes into account Fitt’s Law,
affordance and other concepts, based on all the prior steps of
the design process, is then used to implement the SeVa app.
B. App Implementation on Android Platform
The implementation of the SeVa app is conducted using the
Android Platform [26]. The reasons for choosing Android
are: (1) Android Studio provides various notable features that
are highly creative and easy to use; and (2) we aim to release
this app on the Android marketplace via Google (where Fig. 4. Illustration of App Implementation
releases are quite feasible for individual developers). Notable
features of the Android Studio [26] are stated here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Algorithm 1: Input-Output Execution in the SeVa App
Android Studio entails a fast and a rich emulator Input: Food data entry by supplier S
It has a very flexible Gradle-based build system Output: Food data display to consumer C
It gives a unified environment for app development D: Data on food, i: index for data, f: field in data, t: time, d: distance
It provides templates for code generation and easily integrates with GitHub Accept login (username, password) for S via Android frontend
It offers extensive testing tools and frameworks Check login via Java backend
It has lint tools to catch performance, usability, version compatibility, and If [Link] == invalid
also other problems Report (Invalid username or password)
It supports C++ and NDK (Native Development Kit) Else Begin Data Entry /* shown for one instance only */
It leverages built-in support for Google Cloud that facilitates integration of S enters D[i] via Android Frontend
Google Cloud Messaging and the App Engine For all fields D[i].f є D[i]
Check constraints using CSP via Java Backend
The SeVa App implementation is portrayed in Fig. 4 which If [Link] == True
Report (Error)
depicts its overall workflow. App layout and functionalities Else add D[i] to SQLite KB via Java backend
are coded using Android on the frontend and Java on the End Data Entry
backend. These include login screens, user profile creation Accept login (username, password) for C via Android frontend
for suppliers and consumers, data entry for food items by Check login via Java backend
If [Link] == invalid
suppliers, search functions for consumers, time and distance Report (Invalid username or password)
constraints for delivery etc. Note that suitable aspects of Else Begin Data Search /* shown for one instance only */
constraint satisfaction problems (CSP) in AI are deployed C searches D for (t: t1… tn, d: d1… dm) via Android frontend
here in order to implement the constraints applicable to time Apply constraints (t, d) using CSP via Java backend
Execute query on D for (t, d) from SQLite KB via Java backend
and distance in order to help provide a seamless food delivery If D[i] for (t, d) exists
by connecting the appropriate suppliers with consumers, e.g. Display (D[i]) via Android frontend
if a consumer is searching only within a 5 mile radius for Else Display (No food items available)
available food items, then those suppliers with food item End Data Search
entries beyond that radius should not be shown to the given
consumer. Similar constraints apply to the time of the search.
At this point we have only implemented basic CSP concepts,
i.e. we execute a simple backtracking search that avoids any IV. EVALUATION AND DISCUSSION
constraint violation. We do not provide heuristics to search A. Experimental Evaluation with Surveys
for satisfying all constraints with minimal complexity (such We conduct simple informal user surveys to test the
as most constraining variable, least constrained variable etc.) effectiveness of the SeVa app. These surveys are provided to
since the app design is fairly simple as of now and the various users in order to assess the app in an objective as well

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 as subjective manner. The objective survey questions are
stated here as follows.

Q1. Which state do you reside in?

Q2. What is your profession?
Q3. How useful do you find the SeVa App in general?
Q4. Do you feel the app is specifically helpful during and after COVID-19?
Q5. How good do you find the overall layout of the SeVa app?

Among these, Q3-Q5 use a Likert scale [24] for evaluation,

popular in HCI. We offer the survey to over 50 participants
and obtain 48 respondents. In response to Q1, we find that
surveys are taken by people from 9 different states in the US, Fig. 7. Responses to Q5 based on the overall layout of the app
i.e. AZ, CA, MA, NC, NJ, NY, TX, VA and WA, implying
that there is an interest in the app across wide residential
We also ask users to give verbal comments in the surveys
demographics. For Q2, responses include occupations of: AI
in order to enable a subjective evaluation of the SeVa app.
scientist, attorney, chef, computer engineer, CS professor,
These comments are summarized herewith.
environmental engineer, food store owner, healthcare worker,
IT professional, management professor, NGO volunteer, 1. It looks really useful and important! I think this can be really good
fashion industry employee, quality control manager, research as a Proof of Concept to identify what the end-users will like to
scientist etc. We encounter over 10 different occupations see in such an app.
here, indicating that this app arouses interests spanning a 2. I think the app is an amazing idea! I absolutely love it! :) My only
broad range of occupational demographics. Results of survey comment is that when the app is launched, it should definitely be
advertised! Sounds like a fantastic idea. I do know that a lot of
questions 3 to 5 are summarized in Figs. 5 to 7. It is quite restaurants throw out their food at the end of the day, so if they
fascinating to observe that people are so motivated to fill the have this app, there will potentially be less food waste.
surveys, and that they convey positive responses to all these 3. I think the app is great! Some ideas for improvements would be
questions, proving they are happy with the SeVa app. to add a location filter and group the suppliers based on the type
of food they provide. For example, groceries, fast food, etc. Other
than that, the idea is great and the app looks user-friendly!
4. The app will come in very handy this COVID season and beyond.
I will just suggest that for entry into the app there can be some
more of dropdown than users typing, as naïve users are more
prone to making errors. Secondly, hints can be given for each
field, e.g. date of expiry (mm/dd/yyyy). Great work!
5. This is a very good idea especially considering our current
situation. Maybe add a bar code scanner function to further
improve the user experience…
6. I feel this is a great concept and the prototype serves its purpose
really very well. Release it soon!
7. I think that the "SeVa" app is conceptually a great idea, especially
now during the times of COVID-19. Providing food to those in
need is important and having an easily accessible, user-friendly
app to do so is great : ) In all, I think that as the app continues to
grow throughout its development cycle, it will truly be useful in
providing food to individuals, even past the effects of COVID.
Fig. 5. Responses to Q3 based on the usefulness of the SeVa app 8. I liked how simple the app was… I feel that it could help out many
people. Great thought and work!
9. The app is a very good database submission and retrieval because
it can be helpful for anything requiring book-keeping. I guess for
the app to be better usable, a more interactive search functionality
is needed. What is the exact use case in mind? There are two
options: one is that an NGO uses it which makes it a standard
software. Another is like an Uber for food donation. Nice work!
10. I think this easy access mobile app is a great common platform
for both donors and the needy in this present COVID situation.

B. Discussion on App Evaluation

The objective and subjective evaluation of the prototype
SeVa app convey a very good reception on the whole. It is
clear that survey participants find this app useful, and feel that
it is particularly helpful during COVID-19 pandemic and its
aftermath. The verbal comments from the surveys are very
encouraging since they reflect a positive initial response and
Fig. 6. Responses to Q4 based on helpfulness during and after COVID-19 the eagerness to see the eventual release of app. It is good that
some participants also offer ideas for enhancement.

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