> By Jeffrey R. Harrow, TechWeb contributor
>
> For several years now, I've written a bit about my vision of how the
> growing use of computers and networking in the home might combine to
> keep track of what food items -- and perhaps other things -- are
> inhabiting the dark corners of my kitchen cabinets and refrigerator. A
> bar-code scanner, functionally similar to that at the grocery store,
> would be built into each black hole's door frame. It would keep track
> of each product that went in and out -- even which shelf it was on --
> and, if we get really fancy, how much is left in each box or jar
> through weight-sensing shelves.
Gee, I had the same idea back in... the early 70's? Conveyor belts,
panel with buttons, and something that knew what was where in the kitchen.
No, this wasn't totally new. The Jetsons had it, a Food-A-Rack-A-Cycle, I
believe it was called, and I thought it would be neat for Mom to have one.
I drew it up, showing how all the conveyor belts, buttons, etc., would be
connected... back before I really knew what a computer was. ("just
another hunk of Sci-Fi-Tech." Wait a minute, you mean we have those now?
Laughing!)
> If you think about it, this isn't rocket science -- many of the
> concepts are already in use for commercial and industrial applications.
> So putting these emerging home networks to good, innovative uses, such
> as tracking our groceries, "just" requires getting small and
> inexpensive bar-code sensors for the home, plus a small matter of
> programming.
Not sensors, Scanners. Bar code scanning is done either by scanning
a bright, well defined dot of light across the bars, or imaging the bars
on an array of photo-sensors, and scanning those. The bright dot method
seems to work best. I have a hand held wand; no housewife would bother
using it on an entire load of groceries.
The limitation to home adoption of this technology is presently the
need to move the purchased object across a well defined are prior to
putting it into a storage area. If the storage area was set up to pack
itself from a well defined input opening, this would solve most problems,
save that of how one triggers the imagination of a person too bleary eyed
(or farsighted) to read the screen. And what to do with the rodents,
cockroaches, and broken packages? They all happen. Critters love to play
where you don't see them.
> add it to your online shopping list (you can also pick from 20,000
> other items you might want, as well). Your groceries then appear at
> your front door. (Of course, there are a number of other applications,
> in many other fields, for such a smart handheld bar-code scanning
> system.)
Except for the minor details of exploring the grocery store to see what
else they have. This could substantially impede the introduction of new
products. That is, unless one has one of the new gizmos that you can
trigger from the remote control during the advertisement to "add to
shopping cart". (I proposed that one in the early 90's, laying out how it
would work. We didn't get any interested parties. Such a system is not
that hard to design.)
Fresh produce generally demands personal inspection, as a LOT of the
fresh items end up discarded due to spoilage. Your personal definition of
fresh DOES NOT correspond with that of the produce manager who is under
pressure to ship the junk out to paying customers. It's the same guy who
tells someone to hack off all the rotten parts of the rutabagas, till all
you get is little more than a cut up wedge sitting on the display shelf.
(Does anyone eat fresh produce anymore? Maybe that is the reason for
the rise in various ailments... I often get odd looks when I buy lots of
fresh veggies and almost nothing else. "Ugh, what's that???" Guess the
Food-a-rack-a-cycle just isn't for me.)
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