Objective:
People with large physical collections of CDs, vinyl records, DVDs, books, and similar objects often have no good way to easily locate particular items without organization and sorting that requires extensive effort on their part. The objective of this project is to solve this issue by creating a shelf that can locate items for a person by itself.
Background:
This project should produce a product that is small enough for most people to be able to have and use, as the target audience would be anyone with a collection of media. It is possible that an ideal model would be available in multiple sizes to offer to consumers with different collection sizes or available space, as well as for collections of specific media types.
Methodology:
The main component of the system will be a shelf divided up into slots, with each slot having a camera on its side. The shelf connects to a smartphone app that manages a catalogue of the shelf's contents and allows for new items to be added. When a new item is added, an image will be taken of its cover, and when an item is selected from within the app, images are taken for all of the slots. If an image taken of one of the slots matches the item's cover, then the LED above that slot turns on, showing the item's location.
Expected Results:
This project should result in a simple and intuitive system that can successfully catalog and identify any number of items placed into the area as long as the items fit within the dimensions. The user-interface will be easily readable to allow for a quick item location with a goal of reducing the time spent looking for a certain item in a collection. The location identification of the items will be intuitive as to not add further confusion to the process of finding and retrieving items.
Costs:
The items that will likely be needed to construct the system are as follows:
CotS Shelf - Free if retrofitting existing shelf or Large IKEA Billy Bookcase $49.99 or Small Walmart Mainstays Bookcase $24.88
Individually addressable LED strips 15'9" (or however much needed for existing shelf retrofitting) - $6.50/3'3" - $32.50 Large - $19.50 Small
Acrylic diffuser Tubing 15'9" (or however much needed for existing shelf retrofitting) - $23.46/6' (cut in half means 12') - $46.92 Large - $23.46 Small
ESP32 Based Microcontroller - Development board: $9-$10, w/custom PCB $1 to $3 plus $0.40 PCB from JLCPCB
Wiring - $12.39/50'
Power Supply 1W + 9W/3"3' @ 5V - $14.99
Camera - 3/foot - $17.88 each - $840.33 Large - $411.24 Small
Particle Board Dividers - $18.98/24sq. ft - $37.96 30sq ft Large - $18.98 15sq ft Small
Labor:
Shelf Assembly - 30 minutes - unskilled @ $15/hour - $7.50 <- unnecessary if end user assembles
Assembling/attaching electronics to shelf - 10 Minutes - unskilled @ $15/hour - $2.50
Wiring + Soldering - 15 minutes - skilled @ $25/hour $6.25
Automated Testing - 5 Minutes - unskilled @ $15/hour - $1.25
Shipping:
Estimated - $50 assembled fully, $20 parts only, $10 no shelf
Total Cost Range w/ shelf: $1066.48 - $1112.58 Large or $575.82 - $621.92 Small
Cost range for existing shelving: $48.78 -$57.38 + $60.23/foot of shelving