SrLogger

Overview

We had supplied a Keyence MDX laser marker and Keyence SRG barcode scanners for a manufacturer and they wanted me to create a simple GUI for the operators to use when scanning parts. The operators had to scan a set number of items with unique laser-etched barcodes and place them in a package. They needed to make sure that each barcode scanned was unique and warn the operator if they had double scanned a part, they needed to mark how many items they could not scan, and a CSV report needed to be created for each batch of parts.

The client were really pleased with the system and took my provided code and expanded upon it to build out many more such operator GUIs.

Tech Stack & Architecture

• Python
• SQLite

This was a fairly simple Python GUI made with kivy that logged scans to a SQLite db and sent completed CSV runs via FTP.

Key Features

• GUI / HMI for the operator stations
• Progress tracking
• Duplicate scan warning
• Part rejection
• CSV creation

Challenges & Learnings

If I were to rebuild this project I would use something other than kivy. It wasn't the prettiest UI/UX. I'd build it using something like electron / tauri with clearer separation of concerns between the barcode scanning, the UI, the database, and the CSV generation / output. For an initial MVP it was fine.