This approach is used commercially. Our office is in a co-working space and we have a smart fridge in the kitchen. I should point out we also have a normal shared fridge, but this is like a fancy vending machine. You unlock with an app, take what you want and all the items have an RFID tag, so the system knows what you took and charges you. I assume the workspace managers also get stock alerts.
The other end of this is hotel minibars which detect what you take, I guess also using RFID. I know Marriott use these (Berlin for example) to stop people swapping out wine for water or juice. Fun fact, this happened to a friend of mine in managed isolation. The hotel had taken all the booze from the rooms, since alcohol was rationed. You had to order it from room service and they'd leave it outside your door. They swapped it for free, but they weren't surprised. It seems like it happened a lot, but being told at check-in that you can't touch the fridge without risking it charging you seems like penny pinching when you're charging 150+ EUR per night.
That's pretty cool, but from what I understand products usually don't come with RFID, thus you'd have to be the one to stick them onto the carton of milk and all the stuff. I'd like one that, I guess, uses computer vision to see what is what and use that data to track everything.
This approach is used commercially. Our office is in a co-working space and we have a smart fridge in the kitchen. I should point out we also have a normal shared fridge, but this is like a fancy vending machine. You unlock with an app, take what you want and all the items have an RFID tag, so the system knows what you took and charges you. I assume the workspace managers also get stock alerts.
The other end of this is hotel minibars which detect what you take, I guess also using RFID. I know Marriott use these (Berlin for example) to stop people swapping out wine for water or juice. Fun fact, this happened to a friend of mine in managed isolation. The hotel had taken all the booze from the rooms, since alcohol was rationed. You had to order it from room service and they'd leave it outside your door. They swapped it for free, but they weren't surprised. It seems like it happened a lot, but being told at check-in that you can't touch the fridge without risking it charging you seems like penny pinching when you're charging 150+ EUR per night.