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Although barcodes are currently utilized mainly to keep track of merchandise, they may soon also be used to detect counterfeit goods. We're not talking about ordinary barcode labels, however. Instead, British scientists at Sofmat Ltd and the University of Bradford have devised a new 3D barcode that's actually molded into plastic or composite items.
The system utilizes tiny pins that are integrated into the mold from which the product is made. Each pin can be set to different heights via micro actuators, with each 0.4-micron increment in height corresponding to a specific letter or numeral (0 - 9). The current prototype consists of a four-pin array, allowing for over 1.7 million unique configurations.
The resulting indentations in the finished item are difficult to see and impossible to feel, yet can be read using a white light interferometer or a laser-scanning confocal microscope – a compact laser scanner is in the works, which could wirelessly transmit readings to a smartphone or tablet.
(Score: 3, Informative) by mhajicek on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:51AM
It helps the cashier distinguish between a $1.50 / pound apple and a $4.00 / pound apple.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 16 2015, @05:38AM
And what, pray tell, distinguishes these? Is it so difficult that the cashier needs instruction?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:25PM
Two reasons, having worked in a retail food store back when I was a starving student (admittedly a long time ago)
1) You take a big bin of cheap apples and you put some in the regular apple display for $1.50/lb and some in the organic apple display for $4.00/lb and customers have been heavily advertised to aspire and brag about paying $4/lb. The advertisers are pissed that a cashier could ruin the illusion of superiority, so they need labels. Imagine if it was impossible to distinguish a rolex from a timex, or a porsche from a yugo, but we all pretended they were different (kind of like how we also pretend some things that are different, are the same...)
2) Lets face it, cashiers are often not terribly knowledgeable about food. With continued economic decline perhaps in 2015 you can assume everyone in the store has at least a bachelors in something, but probably not an associates in food prep aka chef school. Customers would ask me at the store sometimes for advice on cooking some roast or how best to bake cookies or some damn thing and lets face it, I was 17 and my mom did most of the cooking and I know nothing at all about how to peel a dragonfruit or how to roast a pheasant. So yeah, you want the cashier to credit the produce dept with sales of scallions vs onions or blueberries vs blackberries, you'd best label that stuff. There's also been a trend of advertising how many produce items you stock as if more are better, so you end up stocking weird stuff nobody buys in order to show off, so you've got tarot root and ginger root sitting there for months, right next to the cactus petals and kiwi fruits, and its likely the cashier has no idea what either is, or how to tell tarot and ginger apart.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Wednesday September 16 2015, @04:21PM
You're probably meaning a "Cactus Leaf" as opposed to Cactus Flower Petals. Ginger root is a perfectly legitimate thing to have in a grocery store. Taro is much different from Tarot cards. This description of Taro Root tells me why I don't eat Taro and provides me a few good reasons to just avoid it. http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/10/seriously-asian-taro-root.html/ [seriouseats.com] "You may be thinking that with the abundance of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash available during the fall and winter, you're already happy with your repertoire of starches. Why add taro to that list, given that its furry brown surface is actually an irritant to our skin? And its raw flesh is mildly toxic? What's more, like okra, taro flesh is slimy when boiled. Admittedly, taro is not the friendliest of edible roots, but it's well worth the effort. Let me convince you why.The texture of taro is unlike any other root vegetable or squash. Steamed or simmered, taro is soft and almost custard-like, yet still firm and dry at the same time. Its complex flavor makes potatoes, in comparison, not as interesting to eat. Though taro is often said to have no distinctive flavor, the larger varieties possess a slightly fishy, meaty taste that's unique in the root family."
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:32PM
Whoops forgot a 3rd reason, with the rise of self check I've memorized the code for idaho potatoes and coincidentally if what I'm buying has no code sticker or bar code, everything I buy happens to be an idaho potatoe. I won't actively cheat them but they're not paying me to memorize their codes or look them up, and they sure as hell give no discount for self check users, so I use the only code I actually know. Everything in the produce aisle costs about the same per pound anyway.
So if you want to do actual inventory control and tracking, you need to not rely on customers memorizing an entire book of produce codes.