5 ms·

Very nice work. I like what I see on many levels! Let me also echo the idea of a "pantry inventory". Getting something like that working (well) would by itself

Very nice work. I like what I see on many levels! Let me also echo the idea of a "pantry inventory". Getting something like that working (well) would by itself be a very strong feature. Like others, I have been interested in that for a long time. I even took a stab at it many years ago, to some success, but abandoned it when we hired a nanny who took care of cooking. I had a dedicated optical scanner attached to the wall plugged in via USB to an Arduino microprocessor. It had a single button and a single RGB LED. Pushing the button would "wakeup" the system and it would resume previous mode. Two modes: check-in and check-out. (Pushing the button again toggles the mode. System reboots by holding the button down for 3 seconds. Auto "sleep" occured after a set inactivity.) The Arduino just sent a POST request via HTTP API upon a successful SKU scan, and flash a red or blue light depending on thr mode. And then a little CRUD interface I could access from my phone. There are many SKU datasets out there available, and some amount of management of that data (organization, categorization) would be what could really set you apart.

jka 7y ago
Thanks! Having to experience the inventory management problem regularly certainly helps inspire & validate solutions :) The setup you had sounds extremely cool - did you hit any particular challenges around the SKU data wrangling? I've added a naive rules-based approach to categorizing products into supermarket departments (bakery, fruit & veg, ...) - it's really barebones at the moment, but already helps planning walking around the shops. I'm not sure where you're based but your Arduino setup reminds me a bit of supermarket self-service checkouts in the UK - you hold each item up to a scanner and get a little 'beep' confirmation for each one during checkout.
- procombo 7y ago
  Yeah. I was definitely very AdHoc. A typical grocery store here in the US has about like, what, 20k SKUs? But I personally only really deal with maybe 200 of those, so at the time I just managed the data manually. (Plugged that USB scanner into a laptop and scanned every item into Excel --Scan, type. Scan, type. Then imported that into MySQL.) I looked into data providers mostly because I wanted item photos. (Ultimately I just scraped images from Target.com cause I could search via SKU and it was super easy.) Unfortunately that's my only experience with SKU data aggragators. My scanner was attached just inside my pantry to the left, and it worked well enough. Hands free. Funny you mention it, cause I'm not a big fan of self-checkouts here in the US. They are ergonomically incorrect, technologically unreliable, and impractical when purchasing more than 15 items. With traditional checkout the conversation is "how are you, did you find everything today?" and with self-checkout they make it clear they know you are a potential theif. shrug
  - JoeAltmaier 7y ago
    Same here, about self-checkout. Produce - good luck. Awkward item? Won't fit on bagging shelf, error. Barcode won't scan? Struggle like a fool for 2 minutes until the attendant notices. I never use them, unless its one small plain barcoded item.
  - rrdharan 7y ago
    Why did you stop using this scanner setup?
    - tnorthcutt 7y ago
      but abandoned it when we hired a nanny who took care of cooking
      - procombo 7y ago
        Yes. As much as I liked having an inventory, it was still "work"... and a very easy thing to drop from a list of employee responsibilities. I still have the components in a box somewhere. I was thinking about installing it in our basement "cold storage"/"emergency food storage" room for longer term items. But I just don't access those items enough to justify drilling a hole in the concrete wall for DC power.
  - oh_sigh 7y ago
    I like systems I've seen in Europe(eg Carrefour) much more, where you get a handheld scanner and scan your items as you put them in the cart. When it comes time to pay you just put your scanner back and swipe your credit card.
    - procombo 7y ago
      I totally agree. Scan into cart is my favorite self-checkout method I've used. They had trial runs of a system like this in my community but phased them out soon after. We also tried a couple home delivery services, but it was too unreliable. What is popular around here is pickup at the store. Submit an order and a "picker" does the work. You either get curbside delivery (small grocery chain) or pickup at a dedicated counter inside (Walmart).

jka 7y ago

Thanks! Having to experience the inventory management problem regularly certainly helps inspire & validate solutions :) The setup you had sounds extremely cool - did you hit any particular challenges around the SKU data wrangling? I've added a naive rules-based approach to categorizing products into supermarket departments (bakery, fruit & veg, ...) - it's really barebones at the moment, but already helps planning walking around the shops. I'm not sure where you're based but your Arduino setup reminds me a bit of supermarket self-service checkouts in the UK - you hold each item up to a scanner and get a little 'beep' confirmation for each one during checkout.

procombo 7y ago
Yeah. I was definitely very AdHoc. A typical grocery store here in the US has about like, what, 20k SKUs? But I personally only really deal with maybe 200 of those, so at the time I just managed the data manually. (Plugged that USB scanner into a laptop and scanned every item into Excel --Scan, type. Scan, type. Then imported that into MySQL.) I looked into data providers mostly because I wanted item photos. (Ultimately I just scraped images from Target.com cause I could search via SKU and it was super easy.) Unfortunately that's my only experience with SKU data aggragators. My scanner was attached just inside my pantry to the left, and it worked well enough. Hands free. Funny you mention it, cause I'm not a big fan of self-checkouts here in the US. They are ergonomically incorrect, technologically unreliable, and impractical when purchasing more than 15 items. With traditional checkout the conversation is "how are you, did you find everything today?" and with self-checkout they make it clear they know you are a potential theif. shrug
- JoeAltmaier 7y ago
  Same here, about self-checkout. Produce - good luck. Awkward item? Won't fit on bagging shelf, error. Barcode won't scan? Struggle like a fool for 2 minutes until the attendant notices. I never use them, unless its one small plain barcoded item.
- rrdharan 7y ago
  Why did you stop using this scanner setup?
  - tnorthcutt 7y ago
    but abandoned it when we hired a nanny who took care of cooking
    - procombo 7y ago
      Yes. As much as I liked having an inventory, it was still "work"... and a very easy thing to drop from a list of employee responsibilities. I still have the components in a box somewhere. I was thinking about installing it in our basement "cold storage"/"emergency food storage" room for longer term items. But I just don't access those items enough to justify drilling a hole in the concrete wall for DC power.
- oh_sigh 7y ago
  I like systems I've seen in Europe(eg Carrefour) much more, where you get a handheld scanner and scan your items as you put them in the cart. When it comes time to pay you just put your scanner back and swipe your credit card.
  - procombo 7y ago
    I totally agree. Scan into cart is my favorite self-checkout method I've used. They had trial runs of a system like this in my community but phased them out soon after. We also tried a couple home delivery services, but it was too unreliable. What is popular around here is pickup at the store. Submit an order and a "picker" does the work. You either get curbside delivery (small grocery chain) or pickup at a dedicated counter inside (Walmart).