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ReForge : Turning leftover cardboard into useful designs with AWS

ReForge : Turning leftover cardboard into useful designs with AWS

ReForge uses AWS to turn leftover cardboard into practical cutting layouts, adapting designs to available scraps and exporting dimensioned SVGs.

I built ReForge for the Waste and Energy track of Environmental Hacks. The starting question was simple: what can someone make from the cardboard scraps they already have?
Most cutting templates assume you have a sheet of a particular size. Leftover cardboard rarely matches that assumption. Pieces have different dimensions, damaged corners, and limited usable space.
ReForge lets users enter scraps manually or review their outlines from photographs. After checking measurements and marking unusable areas, users can generate a cutting layout for an interlocking divider. If a scrap becomes unavailable, they can replan using the remaining inventory. The result can be downloaded as a dimensioned SVG.
One challenge was making the output trustworthy. A photograph cannot reliably tell us material thickness, and incorrect calibration can produce incorrect dimensions. During testing, automatic outline detection also failed on a sample image. Manual outline editing provided a way to continue, but physical measurements still need verification.
For deployment, I used AWS Amplify to host the frontend. Amazon API Gateway connects it to a Python backend running on AWS Lambda. I used the open-source AWS SAM CLI to build and deploy the backend.
The prototype demonstrates layout generation, replanning, and SVG export. My current testing uses sample measurements; cutting and assembling a divider from real cardboard is the next validation step. I also want to measure actual material reuse before making environmental impact claims.
I used ChatGPT for planning and Anti-Gravity Free CLI agents to assist with implementation.
Code:  https://github.com/SwarnavaItIs/ReForge_Environmental_Hacks 
Any opinions in this article are those of the individual author and may not reflect the opinions of AWS.
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