Microsoft Developer presents a tutorial on creating a free, AI-driven inventory manager using Azure services to automate grocery receipt scanning and inventory tracking.

Building a Free AI-Powered Inventory Manager with Azure

In this episode of Budget Bytes, the Microsoft Developer team explores how to create an inventory management application that helps users track groceries, minimize waste, and stay on budget—all for free.

Problem Statement

Manual inventory tracking can be frustrating and inefficient, leading to food waste and unnecessary expenses. The challenge tackled in this episode is to automate inventory management by simply snapping a photo of a grocery receipt and letting AI extract all relevant items.

Solution Overview

• User Experience: Users take a photo of their grocery receipt. The system processes the receipt and updates the inventory automatically.
• Automation: AI technology (most likely Azure Cognitive Services) recognizes and extracts items from the receipt without manual data entry.

Architecture and Technologies Used

• Azure AI Services (e.g., Computer Vision/Receipt OCR): For extracting text and item information from receipts
• Azure Cloud Platform: To host backend logic and storage
• Development Stack: The project starts as a console application and extends into a full inventory application

Development Process

1. Blueprint & Inspiration: Understand the challenge of manual tracking and define project goals
2. Architecture Walkthrough: See how Azure services are integrated to automate receipt scanning
3. Implementation: The episode demonstrates building the application step-by-step, beginning with a simple console app

Demo

The video walks through a live demonstration of:

• Taking a picture of a receipt
• Processing the image through the AI-powered backend
• Automatically updating the inventory list

Budget Considerations

The solution is designed to be budget-friendly, with options to get started for free through the offered Azure resources at aka.ms/budgetbytes/freeoffer. All code and templates are available in the official repository.

Key Takeaways

• Use Azure AI services to extract structured data from images
• Automate day-to-day tasks by integrating cognitive APIs with custom workflows
• Quick prototyping is possible using a straightforward development process

Resource links:

• Repo: aka.ms/budgetbytes
• Free Offer: aka.ms/budgetbytes/freeoffer