Microcontroller-Powered Lunchbox Makes Printed Versions of QR Code Menus
Some restaurants no longer use printed menus and instead offer digital menus which are only accessible by scanning QR codes. Guy Dupont’s project is designed for those who still insist on reading the physical menu. Dupont created a portable Lunchbox printer This creates a menu using the information found on the URL by scanning the QR Code.
It was intended to use the device in restaurants, where it would scan QR codes menus to print them. Dupont has connected an ESP-32 to a thermal printer generic. This module can connect to the Internet, which is required to retrieve menu data.
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Dupont divides the process into five segments. The device must first scan the QR code to access the URL. The device then captures a screen shot of the website using Microsoft’s Playwright software library. If the website is a PDF, it’s downloaded. The screenshot is then scanned to find any text.
The menu text is summarized and formatted in ChatGPT. The menu text is summarized and formatted. ChatGPT’s response is printed on the thermal printer. You could get the menu in real-time without having to access the website. All you need to have is an Internet connection.
Dupon confirmed that the device is powered by a Seeed Studio Xiao ESP32 S3 microcontroller. The project’s software is available for free at GitHub For anyone to explore. Hackaday is planning to publish a detailed description of the project.
Check out the full video of Dupont on YouTube.
