Chrono-Shelf

Inspired by the E-Commerce Pricing scraper, Chrono-Shelf aims to bring the power of price tracking to physical collectibles and used goods. Imagine a small, discreet IoT sensor that you place on a shelf containing items like vintage toys, collectibles, books, or even rare electronics. When placed, the user points the integrated camera at the item, and the device attempts to identify it using image recognition (even a simple barcode scan can be a starting point). Once identified, Chrono-Shelf queries publicly available e-commerce and auction sites (akin to the scraper project) to find historical and current pricing data for that specific item. This data is stored locally or in a cloud service, creating a personalized 'timeline' for each item's market value. The 'Memento' influence comes in the way it records the item's origin story: when it was acquired, its original purchase price, and its initial condition. The 'Hyperion' element lies in the potential for discovering rare or forgotten treasures, where a seemingly mundane object might hold significant future value. The device would feature a small display or connect to a companion app, showing the item's current estimated value, its historical price trends, and even suggesting optimal times to sell based on observed peaks in demand and price. This niche application targets collectors, resellers, and anyone who wants to manage and monetize their physical possessions more effectively. It's low-cost due to the use of affordable microcontrollers (like ESP32) and basic sensors, with potential for high earning by facilitating smart buying and selling decisions in the secondary market.