Inventory Help!

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi all!

I am trying to make a food inventory device that uses a 2d/3d code scanner to add/subtract items from a list. I have all the hardware already (ESP32, scanner, etc.) , but I can't seem to figure out some basics :thinking:.

Does anyone have any ideas on a good free upc lookup api?
Thats kind of minor though. I really am looking for ideas on a good inventory setup. First I was thinking a google spreadsheet, but I can't seem to get that to work. I want it to be easily accessible, so I was thinking maybe an app or something that just keeps track of inventory.

I thought this project was going to be fairly simple, but who ever heard of a simple project I guess?

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

2

You have described the nucleus of the project. What is the large project? Portable, desk mobile, permanent...

3

Hey @Railroader !

So... I am trying to make a small mobile scanner for just adding/subtracting items from a list. Since I am using a ESP32, I am planning on using an app/spreadsheet that the data can be uploaded to wirelessly.

I was thinking, on the hardware side, it would just be a small box that contains the ESP32, scanner, and small battery. It's the software side (data part) that I am not sure what to do on.

4

I would suggest before purchasing more parts put together your project with a schematic and a software flow chart.

5

Take a camera and pattern recognition software.

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6

Do you have access to an internet web server (e.g. pay an annual fee for one or run one on your home server)? These often provide a web server, an SQL database and can run PHP scripts. This would enable you to store the inventory in a database build a simple API to update the inventory and serve web pages showing the inventory which can be accessed anywhere from pc or smartphone. You can even extend this to automatically calculate your rate of use of each item and how much you need to buy/order on a regular basis.

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I don’t think I need any more parts; the thing is, I’m just not sure what to do for software.

I can already do that right now; I have successfully read barcodes already.

8

Thanks @PaulRB ! This sounds like a good idea. I’ll look into it.

9

Head on over to github and search food inventory projects. You'll probably find hundreds that you can start from, in the language of your choice.

10

I already did that, and I could find nothing decent in c++ for ESP32 or Arduino; there was only three results, all of which are unsuitable.

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There might be a reason for that, such as it being an unsuitable platform. Why do you want to use arduino for this task as opposed to a PC?

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Because I want it to be very small and compact; it doesn't seem like it would be very hard for a ESP32 to just read some barcodes, and update a tally somewhere :thinking:.

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