For a better tomorrow
Safer
Safer
Cleaner
Cleaner
Smarter
Smarter
Smarter
For the Community
Everything we build solves a real San Diego problem. No clients, no products, just work that helps the coast and the people who live here.
For the Community
Everything we build solves a real San Diego problem. No clients, no products, just work that helps the coast and the people who live here.
Open and In Public
Every experiment ships a video and free data anyone can use. You can watch the whole thing come together, start to finish.
Open and In Public
Every experiment ships a video and free data anyone can use. You can watch the whole thing come together, start to finish.
Powered by Donations
We fund the gear ourselves and through people who believe in the work. Right now, donations help fund Sandpiper’s first rolling camera test: the rover chassis, controller, power system, and camera mount.
Powered by Donations
We fund the gear ourselves and through people who believe in the work. Right now, donations help fund Sandpiper’s first rolling camera test: the rover chassis, controller, power system, and camera mount.
Issues we are focused on
Problems
Problems
Coastal & Ocean
Beach litter, rip currents, water quality, kelp health. The shoreline is where we start.
Beach Litter
Rip Currents
Water Quality
Kelp Health
Marine Life
The coast is where we're starting, because it's what San Diego is known for and what's most at risk. The plan is to build rovers that clean the sand, cameras that can spot rip currents before they pull someone under, and buoys that watch the water for the sewage and runoff that close our beaches. Every project we take on here is meant to protect the shoreline the whole city depends on.
Environmental
Wildfire smoke, air quality, urban heat. The slower threats that hit whole neighborhoods.
Wildfire Smoke
Air Quality
Open Sensors
Urban Heat
Early Warning
Some threats move slower than a wave but hit harder. Wildfire smoke, dirty air near the port, and neighborhoods that bake in the heat with no shade. We want to build low cost sensors and cameras that catch these problems early and map them block by block, then hand that data to the people who can act on it.
Urban & Civic
Sidewalks, roads, illegal dumping. The everyday city problems tech can quietly fix.
Road Defects
Sidewalks
Illegal Dumping
Open Data
Accessibility
The everyday problems a city struggles to keep up with. Potholes, broken sidewalks, dumping in the canyons. Our aim is to point the same AI and cameras at the streets, turning a normal drive or walk into a live map of what needs fixing, and feed it straight into the city's own tools.
Wildlife
Nesting birds, marine mammals, acoustic monitoring. Sharing the coast without disturbing it.
Shorebirds
Sea Lions
Acoustic Monitoring
Habitat
Non-Invasive
San Diego's coast is shared with nesting birds, sea lions, and species that get crowded out by millions of visitors. We plan to use quiet cameras and audio sensors to monitor wildlife without disturbing it, flagging when animals are stressed or a protected area needs space, so people and nature can share the same beach.
Coastal & Ocean
Beach litter, rip currents, water quality, kelp health. The shoreline is where we start.
Environmental
Wildfire smoke, air quality, urban heat. The slower threats that hit whole neighborhoods.
Urban & Civic
Sidewalks, roads, illegal dumping. The everyday city problems tech can quietly fix.
Wildlife
Nesting birds, marine mammals, acoustic monitoring. Sharing the coast without disturbing it.
The tech behind it
Stack
Stack
World Models
We rebuild real San Diego places as explorable 3D worlds, so our robots can learn in a perfect digital copy before touching the real site.
World Models
We rebuild real San Diego places as explorable 3D worlds, so our robots can learn in a perfect digital copy before touching the real site.
World Models
We rebuild real San Diego places as explorable 3D worlds, so our robots can learn in a perfect digital copy before touching the real site.
Simulation Training
Robots run thousands of practice attempts inside the virtual world, learning to document shoreline change, read water conditions, and navigate coastal terrain.
Simulation Training
Robots run thousands of practice attempts inside the virtual world, learning to document shoreline change, read water conditions, and navigate coastal terrain.
Simulation Training
Robots run thousands of practice attempts inside the virtual world, learning to document shoreline change, read water conditions, and navigate coastal terrain.
Edge AI
Every machine runs its AI on board, in the field, in real time.
Edge AI
Every machine runs its AI on board, in the field, in real time.
Edge AI
Every machine runs its AI on board, in the field, in real time.
Computer Vision
Custom detection models trained to find exactly what each project needs: visible shoreline change, smoke, a rip current, or a pothole.
Computer Vision
Custom detection models trained to find exactly what each project needs: visible shoreline change, smoke, a rip current, or a pothole.
Computer Vision
Custom detection models trained to find exactly what each project needs: visible shoreline change, smoke, a rip current, or a pothole.
Built in Code
We write the pipelines, controls, and tools ourselves, using the same AI coding stack pushing the frontier.
Built in Code
We write the pipelines, controls, and tools ourselves, using the same AI coding stack pushing the frontier.
Built in Code
We write the pipelines, controls, and tools ourselves, using the same AI coding stack pushing the frontier.
Open by Default
Every result, dataset, and writeup ships in the open. Anyone can verify it, use it, or build on it.
Open by Default
Every result, dataset, and writeup ships in the open. Anyone can verify it, use it, or build on it.
Open by Default
Every result, dataset, and writeup ships in the open. Anyone can verify it, use it, or build on it.
Sensors & Hardware
Cameras, water sensors, air monitors, and custom rigs. We build the physical machines that go out and collect the data.
Sensors & Hardware
Cameras, water sensors, air monitors, and custom rigs. We build the physical machines that go out and collect the data.
Sensors & Hardware
Cameras, water sensors, air monitors, and custom rigs. We build the physical machines that go out and collect the data.
Our not-so secret method
Process
Process
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Capture the Site
We head to the actual San Diego site, a beach, a canyon, a stretch of coast, and capture it with a phone or drone. Real footage of a real place is where every project starts.
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2
3
4
Capture the Site
We head to the actual San Diego site, a beach, a canyon, a stretch of coast, and capture it with a phone or drone. Real footage of a real place is where every project starts.
1
2
3
4
Capture the Site
We head to the actual San Diego site, a beach, a canyon, a stretch of coast, and capture it with a phone or drone. Real footage of a real place is where every project starts.
The San Diego Project started with a simple idea: the same frontier technology behind self driving cars and humanoid robots should be pointed at the problems in our own backyard. We’re Shay and Taj, and we build AI and hardware experiments to help San Diego, including Sandpiper, a planned camera-equipped shoreline rover designed to repeatedly film the same coastal areas to help document, map, and compare erosion over time. Everything we do is open, community funded, and built in public.
About us
The San Diego Project exists to aim frontier tech at local problems. We’re Shay and Taj, building AI and hardware experiments for San Diego. From Sandpiper, our camera-equipped shoreline rover for documenting erosion, to air and water sensors. Always open, community funded, and built in public.
About us
You ask, we answer.
FAQs
FAQs
FAQs
What is the San Diego Project?
It's our home for the AI and hardware experiments we build to help San Diego. Each project tackles a real local problem, from coastal erosion to water quality, and everything we learn is shared in the open. Think of it as a public lab run by two people who love this city.
Is this a business? Are you selling anything?
Where does my donation go?
Can I request a project?
How do you pick which projects to do?
What happens to the data and results?
Can I help if I'm not donating?
What is the San Diego Project?
It's our home for the AI and hardware experiments we build to help San Diego. Each project tackles a real local problem, from coastal erosion to water quality, and everything we learn is shared in the open. Think of it as a public lab run by two people who love this city.