ColourWorker – Turn Your Phone Into a Scientific Sensor

Education

🌱 Student CREST Award

How does the light storage environment affect the appearence of Parsley plants?

Plants growing under different lighting conditions

1: Experiment Design

Parsley plants stored under different lighting conditions for 2 weeks.

2: Data Collection

Plant images acquired daily.

3: Data Export

Image data exported to Google Sheets for analysis.

4: Analyze

Leaf colour change over time under different lighting conditions

Research

🌱 Performance Evaluation

Comparing image-based estimates of leaf SPAD-value and chlorophyll concentration made using PhotoFolia with Minolta 502 SPAD meter and laboratory assay.

Rice varieties under different growth conditions

1: Plant Protocol

Four different varieties of rice grown at Mahidol University under control and Nitrogen deficient conditions.

2: Three different measurement types

(1) PhotoFolia (2) Minolta 502 SPAD meter (3) spectroradiometric chlorophyll assay following acetone extraction

3: SPAD value

PhotoFolia achieves a Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 4.11% compared to the Minolta 502 SPAD meter.

4: Chlorophyll Concentration

PhotoFolia achieves a Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 7.23% compared to the laboratory assay (acetone extraction).

Education

👩‍🍳 Student Project

How does sugar content affect browning of cookies?

1: Experient Design

Simple sugar cookies were made with different amounts of sugar and baked for 10, 12 and 14 mins.

2: Data collection

Biscuit images are obtained for different conditions.

3: Results

Average biscuit L*, a*, b* values obtained from ColourWorker web app.

4: Conclusion

Bake time drives a generalized browning that increases both redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) reflecting overall progression of Maillard and caramelization reactions. Increase in sugar concentration shifts the hue of browning, enhancing redness (a* ↑) while reducing yellowness (b* ↓). This is likely due to changes in caramelization chemistry and suppressed Maillard pathways at high sugar levels.