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Unsung Science: The Man Who Invented QR Codes

In 1994, Masahiro Hara got tired of having to scan six or seven barcodes on every box of Toyota car-parts that zoomed past him on the assembly line. He wondered why the standard barcode from the 70s was still used...Why couldn’t someone invent a barcode that used two dimensions instead of one that could work from any angle or distance, even even if it got smudged or torn?

And so, studying a game of "Go", he dreamed up what we now know as the QR Code — the square barcode you scan with your phone. It shows up on restaurant menus, billboards, magazine ads — even tattoos and gravestones. But even that, says Hara-san, is only the beginning.

Listen here: https://chrt.fm/track/22GG1/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/prfx.byspotify.com/e/rss.art19.com/episodes/fc006bc6-93ba-4c9f-8249-9d59504e5226.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg9BbnRlbm5hUG9kBjoGRVQ%3D--bba5bdd77df5f5806138bf3e7d4615ea7f8e6a75

Podcast webpage: https://art19.com/shows/unsung-science

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