To follow the last post, as a group, we have come to a conclusion on the product we are designing as part of this module. We chose to implement the barcode scanner device because of the potential it could have as a project and for the target market. The elderly, no matter what their age are always careful with their health. A simple change in diet could extend their life by a number of years.
The Idea
As almost all foods have barcodes on them, this device would allow the user to scan the barcode of the food they are going to eat and it would tell them how much of their daily intake it would allow for. They could take the device to a supermarket too, or they could use it in the home. As the day or week progresses it would allow the user to know what is lacking from their diet and could also possibly make suggestions as to what else the user could eat to better balance their diet. The device could build up a database of either what they like, what they need or what they might like, and then could connect to either a catering company or a firm like tesco's to order the food from the database.
Requirements
We are planning a meeting soon, to broaden the requirements of the product. This way we can build a number of prototypes, each with different requirements, and see which direction the product could move in. For instance, we could rely on something else other than scanning the barcode for input.
