I did one of these as a proof of concept for storing gpg keys long term, securely and offline.
My version didn't use a motor and required a human to pull the tape through, had a set of guide holes down the middle to indicate when a bit was to be read and used LEDs as both the light sources and the photo receptors.
All in all a rather fun project which worked much better than it had any right to.
Never did find a material which had the longevity of aluminium foil with the durability of 35mm film stock.
My version didn't use a motor and required a human to pull the tape through, had a set of guide holes down the middle to indicate when a bit was to be read and used LEDs as both the light sources and the photo receptors.
All in all a rather fun project which worked much better than it had any right to.
Never did find a material which had the longevity of aluminium foil with the durability of 35mm film stock.