PlateLoop
Waste less.
An AI food scanner that measures what is served, eaten and left, so canteens cook the right amount, and everyone who eats gets their own nutrition report.
of food was thrown away in Singapore in 2023. Only about 18% of it was recycled. The rest was burnt, and the ash goes to Semakau, our only landfill.
of the world’s food waste comes from food service: canteens, restaurants and caterers.
of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food that is lost or wasted.
We used design thinking, from lunch queue to prototype.
Empathise
Watched how lunch really runs and mapped four people it affects.
Define
One problem statement and three “how might we” questions.
Ideate
Compared five ways to measure what people eat.
Prototype
A 3D scanner with its working kiosk, four apps and a 3D game of one lunch.
Test
Walked every step, found where it breaks, and fixed it.
Four people, four different problems with the same tray.
I get the same big scoop as everyone, and I’m told to finish it.
I cook by feel. Some days half the kailan comes back.
By the time we notice a patient isn’t eating, it’s been days.
I’m trying to build muscle, but I have no idea what the canteen gives me.
Each group needs something different from the same scan.
of university students eat enough fruit and vegetables, and calorie counting can harm teens.
- Food groups, not calories
- Class race: −35% plate waste in a school study
- Right portion beats a clean plate
of inpatients were malnourished and stayed longer. 93% of hand-filled food charts were incomplete, and 30% of hospital food comes back.
- Every tray measured, no charts
- Choose tomorrow’s meals and portion size
- Alerts with the patient’s reason: appetite, taste, too much, pain
eat out at least 4 times a week, and obesity rose from 10.5% to 12.7%.
- Pre-order: ordering ahead leads to lighter lunches
- 3 pm energy check-in, linked to lunch
- Private by default: teams, never names
Today, the data disappears into the bin.
Canteens are squeezed from three sides.
of global emissions
come from food that is lost or wasted (UNEP, 2024).
food prices
Ingredient costs go up every year, and Singapore imports over 90% of its food.
new obligations
Large premises now have to separate their food waste, and the Zero Waste Masterplan aims for 30% less waste to landfill by 2030.
Only one idea answered all three questions.
| Idea | Per dish | Per person | No extra effort | Before and after | Keeps the queue moving |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weigh the waste binwhat kitchens do today | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Surveys after lunchask what people liked | ~ | ~ | ✕ | ✕ | ~ |
| Photo app on your phonesnap your own plate | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | ~ | ✕ |
| Pre-order your lunchcook to orders | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| PlateLoop tray scanface sign-in, scan before and after | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
One scanner. Two scans.
The PlateLoop Scanner
1
2
3
4
5
Depth camera0.62 m above the tray. Finds each dish and measures its volume.
Face cameraSigns you in by matching a code on the device, never a stored photo.
10.1″ screenShows the steps, your result and what you ate.
Weighing platformChecks the camera’s estimate against real grams.
Food waste binWeighs the scraps too, so the kitchen sees the whole picture.
Heavy work on the device. Only numbers leave it.
Sensors
On the scanner
+ tray number
PlateLoop cloud
Apps
The Kiosk
- Three steps, taught by an animated banner: look, place, wait for the chime.
- Instant feedback: what you ate, your nutrition and the CO₂ your tray saved.
- Every failure has a way out: face not found, a hand on the tray, a skipped scan.
- Every clean tray grows a fruit on the school’s Green Tree.
PlateLoop Kitchen
- One overview: what was served, eaten and wasted today, which dishes come back, and tomorrow’s order.
- Plan and order from learned portions, attendance, weather and school events.
- Carbon management for the whole canteen, toward carbon-neutral.
Loopi
A Tamagotchi that only eats the lunch you really ate. It fills the whole home screen, so students scan to look after it.
- Rewards the right portion, not a clean plate: you’re compared with your own usual.
- Food groups, not calories. Numbers stay hidden unless you turn them on.
- A weekly class race on who wastes least, with cheers. Names only if you opt in.
Loopi Care
In hospitals the goal flips: food left on a tray usually means a patient isn’t eating enough.
- Intake against the prescribed diet: high protein, diabetic or low sodium.
- Choose tomorrow’s meals and portion size, which raises intake.
- After a poor meal, patients say why. The nurse station sees the reason with the alert.
Loopi Work
Personal targets from your goal, height, weight and activity.
- A daily pick from the canteen that fits your goal, with small tweaks.
- Pre-order and skip the queue, then a 3 pm energy check-in linked to lunch.
- Private by default. Your employer only sees anonymous totals.
Lunch Rush
A first-person 3D game of one lunch break in a Singapore school canteen.
- Take a tray, choose your portion, scan at the real scanner model and read its screen up close.
- Eat with friends, scan again, scrape into the food waste bin and return the tray.
- It’s real: your scans show up in the Kiosk, Kitchen and Loopi.
We walked through every step until it broke.
Face not recognised
Hand on the tray
Forgot to scan back
Clean-plate pressure
Nobody acted on alerts
Privacy worries
Built so people are happy to use it.
No photos leave the scanner
Faces become a match code on the device. Only grams per dish and a tray number are sent.
Trays, not names
Kitchen staff work with tray numbers. Names appear only for a care reason, like a nurse.
Consent and control
Every app starts with what’s recorded and who sees it. Face sign-in and leaderboard names can be switched off.
Deleted on time
Hospital data 30 days after discharge; school data when a student leaves.
Kind by default
Loopi never dies, there’s no shop, and hospital alerts are about care, not blame.
Honest numbers
Estimates are labelled as estimates, on the student’s screen and in the Kitchen feed.
It pays for itself. Try your own canteen.
Illustrative: 190 school days, 0.5 kg of food per meal, 2.5 kg CO₂e per kg of food, Pro plan at S$470 a month. Validate in a pilot.
A subscription that costs less than the waste it saves.
- Scanner leased, no upfront cost
- Kiosk and the Kitchen dashboard
- Waste by dish and daily report
- Everything in Basic
- Forecasts, plan and supplier orders
- Carbon management and reporting
- Loopi for schools and universities
- Loopi Care for hospital wards
- Loopi Work for office canteens
Others weigh the bin. We measure the person.
From one canteen to every tray.
to pilot for one term.We’ll bring the scanner and the apps, and share every number with the school and the canteen operator. See the full scale-up plan →
Less waste.
Lower costs.
Healthier people.
on your phone