Finding Lost or Misplaced Items

RFID tags.

Finder: RFID Locator Finds Your Misplaced Keys

You can take it from here.Cheers.

How do you find the finder?

Get two finders... (and then 3, 4,...)

How is this OT?

Never mind. Somebody's playing games.

WOW! That's exactly what I'm looking for. It is only a concept now and don't know when or if it will be available. I'll have to get an Iphone to use it.

Getting old sucks.

True story. Just last week I was in the shower. I was thinking about something, and I couldn't remember how long I had been in there, or if I had washed or not. I wasn't drinking.

What kind of RF tag is going to fix that?

I had to check my armpits and other crevices to see if they smelled like soap.

An interesting picture . Intrigued how you check other crevices for the smell of soap . Are you a yoga master by any chance .

Seriously though , anyone who comes up with a simple , cheap , solution will never need to work again .

I just describe the item to my wife and then she tells me where she put it.

If it was up to me it would all be like it was in the good old day where it all got stacked up on the kitchen table or just found its place on the floor near where I last used it.

OK,

Interesting post. I've had to look into this one a couple of times in the past to find pets, children, staff, and high-value office stuff. In a nutshell, you want a device you can attach to portable items that will enable you to find them.

Let's have a look at the spec...

"have to be very small; no larger than a postage stamp that can be adhered with PSA."

I'll come back to this one.

"The tag would be able to emit a signal that could be picked up by the remote directing the user toward the hidden item. Range could be about a 50' radius."

That's very achievable. There's a number of devices on the market that go way further than that without resorting to GPS units. I'll come back to that too.

"Each tag would operate on a different frequency so that items so tagged could be found."

Good news. RFID tags don't operate that way. Each tag has a unique digital identifier which it broadcasts so you can have tens of thousands if you wish. Have a look at the Wikipedia article on RFID which gives details of how the technology works and the frequencies in use. It's rather more than, "how can I tag my stuff" but it's interesting and for the technically minded will get you thinking about the opportunities and limitations.

To go into the opportunities and limitations a moment. You can classify RFID tags in two ways: active & passive. Active RFID tags have a power source, typically a battery, and broadcast their digital identifier. Passive tags do not have a power source but when energised by waves from an external source, such as a scanner, will respond by emitting their code. There's also a hybrid group which has a power source but only emits when scanned.

Size, power and 'findability' are very linked. You can get tiny rfid chips, such as are used to chip dogs, about the size of a grain of rice. Ideal for what you want except that the operating range is about 3 inches. Powered tags can go up to 500' but are much larger.

On the consumer side there's a number of systems you can buy right now. None of them meet your 'postage stamp' requirement. The "finder" rfid tag system in Lyn's post will be a big improvement, keep an eye on that one.

Of the current devices on the market the Loc8tor system is pretty good and the company has survived for a few years, a rarity in a market where tracking companies seem to survive about as long as mayflies. Their tags can be seen in this picture of them glued to tortoises (I guess everyone has to have a hobby) which I got from their website.

Others I know of are Alarm & Track and Keyringer. Haven't tried either of those. If you want to get a good idea of terminology and what's out there you may want to spend an hour with AliBaba, although that's often the unsupported leading-edge may-or-may-not work.

So you will be able to get a consumer product today that will find your keys & stuff for you. You can't, yet, get it as small as you'd like.

Happy finding!

Evan

I can recommend the Loc8tor

http://www.loc8tor.com/uk/store?gclid=CLub7rS9o7MCFXDLtAoduRgACQ which has battery operated tags, so a rather longer range than RFID devices.

Mr. Ron -

Using RFID tags as a locator or means of locating those small items may not be successful or will fail if you happened to throw or placed them begin with inside metal /steel drawers or tool boxes in your shop. As RF signals cannot pass thru those metal contain containers!

... and whish you never went to that supermarket oxygen ? anywone

Have you heard about the self-locating golf ball?

A golfer had lost his ball and a fellow golfer was helping look for it but could not find it.

What you need is one like mine he said, because it has a built-in flasher that blinks brighter until you see it.

The first golfer asked what happens if the ball is in the rough and the light cant be seen. No problem here, was the reply, because it also bleeps louder until you hear it.

Great!, but what happens if it lands in the lake and you cant see it or hear it?

Stlll not problem because it senses the water pressure and then lets out a stream of bubbles so you can see where it is.

That's great, that's just what I want. Where can can I buy one?

I don't know, was the reply.

OK then, where did you get yours?

... I found it in the hole of on the 18th green!

Why not utilize a little 5S? In a nutshell, a place for everything and everything in its place. Sounds like your workshop/home/whatever is a perfect candidate. Be sure to put your items in a place that makes sense to you. And don't get someone else to do it for you. As a teenager, I 5S'd my dad's garage and he couldn't find a thing! You might even find a few things you thought were lost forever. Costs you nothing but a little time.

Keep everything on their own place.

Gajanan Phadte