The fridge I am designing will need to have a scanning system built in it much like that of a Supermarket barcode scanner. The supermarket scanner used at the checkout counter uses a laser beam to shine across the bar code on products. This is something that is visually obvious but how exactly does it work and how can I include this in my design?
A barcode is an optical display of data that is machine readable. The first barcodes showed data in the widths of lines and the spacings of parallel lines and are usually referred to as one dimensional barcodes or symbologies. However, they can be seen in other geometric patternings or shapes or in 2D form. The first use of barcodes was in supermarkets, used to register data at grocery check out systems, which is used everywhere today. It is a lowcost system which is why it used universally.
Lasers all work in the same way. It is a material that emits light and is placed in between two mirrors which allows the light to bounce back and forth through the material. Placed under more concentrated conditions, this light can make the material produce even more light which in turn results in a very intense beam of light trapped between the mirrors. One of the mirrors is usually made to be slightly transparent, so some of the light escapes from the laser and forms the laser beam.
As the laser beam holds some very useful properties, they are used to enhance existing machines. The laser beam has the factor that it will stay the same size despite the distance it travels because it travels in a straight line that spreads evenly unlike the beam of a flash light that appears bigger at a distance. In the instance of a barcode scanner in a supermarket, a separate sensor looks at the reflected light from the laser beam, and is then able to determine the information contained in the bar code.
Looking at the scanning devices in the supermarket you can see that a scanning device is easily made at different sizes etc. There is the scanner that is hand held, which is quite small and compact or the scanner built into the till which is more convenient when scanning products through quite fast. However both these devices are controlled laser beams so that they do not reflect into people’s eyes etc. this would need to be a factor to consider when designing the scanner for the fridge. How would I make the device so it is easy yet safe to use?
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Interesting and important that you are considering safety too. You have looked at the techie and feacibility side closely and that's good. What about the increasing complexity that appears to be part of contemporary life in relation to food? Does this form some of the basis for your thinking or inform it. The essay by Manovich we looked at earlier in the year pointed to the fact of modern photography as something which gives us images of an idealised future (as compared with trad. photography which gave us snapshots of the past). He compared it with the ominous nature of Social Realism. This is straying from the point a little but does your development in some way fit with a desire too for individuals to deal with an ever tightening form of feedback by technology? Could such a machine impact back on the lives of its creators in various unpredictable ways? There seems to exist in the world problems related to 1) lack of food 2) too much food and 3) an obsession with 'healthy' food and a need to fit with certain mediated looks for example. Here I'm simply trying to widen your thinking into realms outside what might appear obvious at first. All the briefs this year expect that response to some degree. Good work.
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