Developer builds Telegram bot that estimates calories from food photos

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A software developer created a Telegram bot called SnapPlateBot that identifies food from photos and returns calorie, protein, fat, and carb estimates. The bot, built with Python and aiogram, uses a vision language model to analyze dishes and estimate portion sizes without storing any images. Early versions misidentified foods — notably labeling borscht as berry compote — until the developer improved accuracy by feeding the model physical context rules rather than longer dish lists. Users can interact via photo, text, or voice, and payments are handled through Telegram Stars, requiring no signup or app store. The bot is currently free for limited use and the developer is seeking feedback on non-Russian cuisines to improve its performance.

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