A high-fidelity simulation of the smart fridge enabling product-based services

Will users appreciate a fridge that is aware of its contents? At present it is still difficult to forecast user´s reactions to content-aware smart fridges, because product recognition is still in the prototype stadium. This paper presents a simulation of a smart fridge to answer this question. The smart fridge is a PHP-application that simulates daily stock keeping in households. Participants are asked to report on their daily consumption. The fridge manages the stock, displays moulded food, gives advices for replenishment of articles and supports cooking by suggesting recipes. Furthermore the smart fridge can monitor the household´s consumption in terms of healthy eating and economical purchase. A seamless payment and delivery process is implicitly included. The paper presents a description of the simulation´s characteristics as well as research questions that will be addressed by help of this simulation.