Japanese Bakery Features Bread Recognition Software

A Japanese bakery has started using bread recognition software to ring up items at the register more quickly.

The bakery located at a highway rest stop uses a device called “Bakery Scan”, which can identify and add up the cost of 10 items per second. Bakeries are ideal for this kind of technology because they have a limited selection and solid colored trays with a uniform background, making it easier for a camera to identify products. Toshiba attempted to make a similar device for supermarkets a few years ago, but struggled with eliminating background images and handling all the data of a large inventory of major supermarkets, reports Rocket News 24.

Usually cashiers must manually ring up each item by hand. Bakeries can’t afford to wrap and put a barcode on these items, because they’d end up looking much less fresh and attractive.