Ancient origins of the QR code
Chris Garlock | Published on 2/6/2025
“We all know what a QR code is,” writes Kamer Davis. “Some of us know what the QR stands for
(“Quick Response”). But do you know what inspired the QR code's design? A Go board. Masahiro Hara, an engineer at the Japanese automotive company Denso Wave, thought of the idea while playing a game of Go, realizing that a black-and-white grid system could be read from any angle, unlike a traditional barcode, which was limited to one direction. The QR code was first used to track automobile parts during manufacture, with a single QR code taking the place of multiple barcodes.” Read more here.