Pantry‘s smart fridge has a modified Android tablet with credit card reader attached to it, enabling customers to instantly swipe and pay for any items taken out of the fridge. They don’t even have to enter in what they took — using RFID technology, Pantry’s fridge detects what was taken out and automatically charges the card that was swiped .Pantry offers up a fresh alternative to pre-packaged and less healthy foods currently available in most vending machines.
Since it knows when different food items were placed into the fridge, it can ensure the freshness of the goods sold. It also tracks inventory to let people know when items need to be restocked or replaced.
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This sounds awesome and like it solves a huge pain point for places like hospitals, but I can't help but think of ways to game the system - if the tracking is all packaging-based, couldn't someone just take the food out of the wrapper? And what's to ensure that someone doesn't tamper with other items in the unmanned pantry? If these are already solved problems, all the better!
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