Rwanga Awards 2023
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This post shares my experience building NutriCycle, an IoT-based solution that turns food waste into organic fertilizer — the project that won 2nd Place at the Rwanga Awards 2023 in the Scientific Innovation category. It’s an initiative focused on sustainability and smart agriculture through automation and embedded systems.
NutriCycle
Project Overview
NutriCycle is an automated composting system designed with:
- Raspberry Pi as the central control unit
- Python for handling logic and sensors
- Flutter for mobile monitoring interface
- Integration of temperature and moisture sensors for intelligent composting
- Automated scheduling and real-time feedback loop
It detects composting readiness and conditions to optimize natural fertilizer production. This system was developed to help households and small-scale farms recycle biodegradable waste efficiently.
My Role
I served as the project’s lead developer and system architect, responsible for:
- Hardware integration and sensor calibration
- Software architecture and embedded control loop in Python
- Mobile dashboard for monitoring composting progress
- Preparing technical documentation and demo for Rwanga jury
Lessons Learned
- Hardware + software integration is challenging but rewarding
- Real-world testing is more valuable than simulations
- Accessibility and local relevance are key for impact
What’s Next
We aim to make NutriCycle open source and integrate it with solar panels to increase sustainability. Future plans also include bringing machine learning into the feedback system for adaptive composting cycles.
Building technology that serves people and the planet is at the heart of meaningful innovation.