Backyard Sweep: a ten-minute walk to find mosquito breeding spots, and what my own photos taught me
This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 1: Touch Grass What I Built Mosquitoes breed in standing water, and the water usually sits in things we stop seeing: an old tire, a vase, a bottle, a coconut shell, a blocked drain. Health agencies advise emptying, scrubbing or covering them regularly. The hard part isn't knowing what to do. It's noticing the containers.…
Mosquitoes breed in standing water that often accumulates in things we overlook, such as old tires, vases, bottles, coconut shells, and blocked drains. To combat this, the Backyard Sweep app turns the weekly task of checking for standing water into a brief walk around the home. By photographing potential water-holding containers, the app uses a YOLOv8 detector to flag likely mosquito breeding spots and provides simple tips for addressing each one, such as emptying, scrubbing, or covering them.
The app, developed for the Hacktoberfest 2026 Open-Source AI Challenge, is free to use and works on both a phone and a computer.
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