[757labs] Two newer older projects, part 1 self checkout

[Geoff]

On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 1:33 PM, <telmnstr at 757.org> wrote:

> Two projects that should be close to a point where they can move forward:
>
> First, the self checkout stand. Barcode scanner is in, and it's nice! It
> has the beep like you're in the store, beacuse it's the same kind from the
> store. Erik has the dollar bill validator thing. Jody is interested in doing
> software. My vision is a thick client running on Linux to a database
> backend. Then other apps can pound the database to make cool stats.
>

What are we going to use for the UI? Web? I'd be willing to put in some
cycles on that (shouldn't be too difficult). We're planning on using the
touch-screen, no?

I'll get a roll of labels and borrow the printer so we can make up some
unique barcodes for users.


> I'm going to create a wiki entry for it, and start plugging in some ideas.
>
> So far features envisioned are:
>
> Allow member to deposit money
> Allow guest to deposit money
> Allow member/guest to check out something
>  - Could use barcode card for now
>  - Could move to prox in the future
> Allow member to restock
>  - Barcode scan to get product type
>  - Enter quantity being added to fridge
>  - Enter price and paid tax for quantity
>  - System does the rest
>
> Of course in the future it could be extended to electronic parts or
> something, but who cares about tthat for now.
>
> Then as members buy stuff, it's logged to database.
>
> Any ideas or suggestions on database schemas or ways to make it efficent is
> good.
>

First pass at a simple DB schema would be something like this:

Item
  name
  current_price
  type (drink, snack, lube, etc)
  stock

User
  first_name
  last_name
  uuid (barcode for now)
  balance

Transaction
  user_id
  amount (debit/credit)
  item_id (null for credits)
  timestamp


Other ideas would be to keep track of stocking to see who's buying what and
how much.

Problems: We're running low on X and we restock at a different unit price -
do we sell the rest of the stock at the old price before switching to the
new price? If so that requires some changes to the above schema.


Also, read access to the data and a web application to allow random people
> on our website to see that stats (sodas bought by day, popularity by drink,
> etc.) would be fun.
>

Easy enough. Could slap some sexy google chart graphs on the site. Would be
fun to record caffeine or calories for the sodas so we could get some weird
stats like joules per hour.

Optional hardware support for the future to keep in mind should include a
> "pole display" (the little display on the pole), maybe voice announcement of
> what was bought, and some other fun stuff. There are receipt printers but I
> don't really see why we'd need one. LOL, rewards program?
>

Voice would be fairly easy on linux i would think but not a most-have.

Receipts are a waste if people are only depositing like $5 tops.

Do we want to have a coin counter as well?

Top soda purchaser for a week gets a free insulin booster?


> PyGame might be a good way to do a full screen interface. Could render out
> some animations to make it look crazy pro.
>

I'd vote web or processing but that's just 'cause those are the two that i'm
most familiar with. Would love to use this as an excuse to learn some fancy
CSS3 transforms. But then we'd have to run in Chrome.


/Geoff
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