Everything in your house is monitored. When you start running low all kinds of warnings and indicator lights go off.
There.-- snarfyguy, Apr 12 2003 (?) ID tags on every item in your house http://www.autoidcenter.org/main.aspThis MIT project puts tiny ID-tags on every item (e.g., roll of toilet paper, can of Coke). Sensors in your house could track what you bring in and what you throw out and maintain your inventory and project your shortages. [leej, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] DrCurry, I presume? http://www.icepick.com/Could this be the place? They only say they have a scanner on the trashbin [Canuck, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] First link - last valid archived copy https://web.archive...ter.org:80/main.asp2003-10-02 [notexactly, Nov 11 2018] First link - commercial successor (defunct) https://web.archive...pcglobalinc.org:80/ [notexactly, Nov 11 2018] First link - commercial successor's successor https://www.gs1.org/epcglobal [notexactly, Nov 11 2018] First link - academic successor https://autoidlabs.org/Certificate expired the other day, but looks active and up-to-date otherwise [notexactly, Nov 11 2018] Out of blinkenlights!-- thumbwax, Apr 12 2003 Not everything should be monitored. Just the essentials, thank you very much.-- galukalock, Apr 12 2003 Most importantly, you'd need an indicator indicator to tell you when at least 10 of the blinkenlights were going off at once.
Usually i don't vote for sarcastic ideas. However, in this case, i'll make a very warranted exception.-- flicken, Apr 12 2003 Some guy in Holland was doing this - he linked his household inventory up to the Internet, and scanned everything in and everything (garbage included) out. (Sorry, the only link I can find is to another person who remembers the same guy.)-- DrCurry, Apr 12 2003 What a weirdo.-- snarfyguy, Apr 12 2003 I like this idea. I just checked, and I'm completely out of whatever.-- Amos Kito, Apr 12 2003 If you wait until you have no (whatever) it is already too late. I would like a low (whatever) indicator.-- ato_de, Apr 15 2003 what a toad said - despite the fact I hate him!-- po, Apr 15 2003 ato_de: actually, what you want is a system that automatically reorders whatever you are running low on. Then you'll never run out.-- DrCurry, Apr 15 2003 This idea is no good for substitute product sellers. What is the purpuse of napkins other than being used when you're out of toilet paper?-- Pericles, Apr 15 2003 And dish cloths when you're out of napkins.-- Cedar Park, Apr 15 2003 Brava, bliss! I nearly fell out of my chair with that one, so exquisitely timed, so artfully crafted! You can choose either a croissant or a hug. Or maybe one of those warm and fuzzy Travel Bears. You are one of the reasons I keep coming back here. Please don't ever leave, or I shall be forced to hunt you down.
DrCurry, is the link above the right one?
snarfy, where are the sirens and whistles? I thought we had planned for sirens when you are running low on really, really critical stuff, like toilet paper and peanut butter, then the whistles would go when you got low on lower priority items like common sense!-- Canuck, Apr 16 2003 <GPWS Voice>Whoop!Whoop! No bumfodder!</GPWS Voice>-- oneoffdave, Apr 16 2003 Sirens and whistles fall under the category "warnings and indicator lights," Canuck.
This idea was just making fun of some other ideas. Oddly it's doing better than most of my stuff.-- snarfyguy, Apr 16 2003 Ah, maybe you need a warning light for when you have good ideas ?
(It wouldn't go off much ....)-- 8th of 7, Apr 16 2003 That Icepick site is still up and running (!) and it looks like there are sensors on a lot more things than just one garbage can now. Apparently the fridge hasn't been opened in the last 24 hours, but the toilet needed three large flushes in a row, about three hours ago.
Hackaday.io has lots of projects that seek to implement this idea. Usually they're restricted to areas like the pantry, rather than attempting to track literally every object in the house.-- notexactly, Nov 11 2018 "Sir, what do we do? Electrons keep coming and going, the neutrinos absolutely refuse to register themselves, atoms of oxygen are combining and breaking apart and then hooking up with carbon atoms, and positrons keep popping in and out of existence! It's making keeping inventory a nightmare!"-- RayfordSteele, Nov 11 2018 random, halfbakery