For my third year major project I chose to improve handheld barcode scanners, which are normally found in retailers, shops and warehouse environments. The reason for choosing this project was because I work in a warehouse and when customers come up to you enquiring about products its really useful to have one of these devices on you.

Barcode scanners allow you to scan products to either find out the price or to see if its on promotion. Also you can check stock levels if shelves are empty and need filling, or you can order more stock in. Another useful feature is the device allows you to scan an product and it will tell you its shelve location in the warehouse/shop, so it makes finding stock easier and quicker than it would be without a scanner.  

The problem is barcode scanners are reinforced to with stand the harsh environment they are in, so they can be quite large and bulky, so its difficult to keep on you, its too big to slip into your pocket and gets in your way when your working. Also, on previous devices the interface had too many buttons confusing users. So I developed a device which was smaller, easy to keep on you, user friendly and quick to use.