Wireless Shopping Carts Run Windows CE

An anonymous reader writes "Fujitsu has introduced a self-service retail scanner that could make long checkout lines a relic of the past. The U-Scan Shopper is a ruggedized XScale-based wireless computer with an integral bar code scanner, running Windows CE 4.2, and mounted on a shopping cart. The company even suggests that customers might upload a shopping list to the store's website before leaving home, and then download the list to the shopping cart upon arriving at the store."

Comments

Um... so?

[PedanticSpellingTrol]

All the grocery stores here in Columbia, SC have had systems like this for at least a year and a half... and being south carolina, surely we're well behind the curve.

The only downside is...

[ravenspear]

When a buffer overflow occurs a trap door on the underside of the cart is triggered and all your groceries spill out onto the floor.

Re:The only downside is...

[Quantum Fizz]

Or it would give a new take on those Total cereal commercials.

You'll have to eat 12093749283745 bowls of Raisin Bran to get all the nutrition of one bowl of Total.

Re:The only downside is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Unrelated to the idea of a crashing shopping cart, but I'm reminded of a little stunt many university friends and I pulled at one of our local supermarkets, Coles.

about a year ago I went through the checkouts and when a pack of jellybeans was scanned, the register bluescreened. I sniggered a little, but hey - I'm accepting - sometimes these things crash. It took the register guy a few minutes to get the attention of a supervisor ("It's gone blue again!") to reset the register, call up the previous parts of my shopping, and get things going again.

Supervisor re-scanned the jellybeans, and it bluescreened again. Ha!. Next time around he just entered a generic confectionary code and I went on my way. That was kinda cool, and getting back to dorms we had a laugh about it, and decided to all head down at some random busy time and try the same again.

It was cool! eight of us all went through different registers at about the same time, all bluescreening one after another with packets of Candy Lane Jellybeans.

DDoSing a supermarket, it was cool!

Express Lane - 15 Items Only

[hndrcks]

Absolutely no Beowulf Clusters.

Good idea but

[CastrTroy]

When are they actually going to come up with something that will save you money at the grocery store. Maybe something like fridges that are closed, so they don't have to cool the entire store. Even the beer stores in Ontario have gone this way, cooling the entire store. Result. Warmer, more expensive beer.

Re:Good idea but

[jm92956n]

When are they actually going to come up with something that will save you money at the grocery store.

It's not about saving you money, it's about saving them money.

I work part-time at a grocery store (and 9 credits short of a masters', too), and I know how unreliable cashiers are. They call out sick. A lot. Or they simply don't show up. And then there's the whole thing about having to provide benefits--these are all expenses, and the food industry (outside of 5 star restaurants) is notoriously low margin. They have to save money where they can.

To further compound the situation, the grocery industry is facing increased competition from WalMart, everyone's "favorite" discount store. I'm in an area that's, for now at least, immune to behometh, but other areas aren't.

Perhaps you remember the prolonged grocery store workers' strike that occurred last year in California? It was because they simply can't afford to have that many workers on the books. The UPC revolutionized the industry and enormously increased the efficiency of the average cashier. Here's a technology that'll produce even more savings (for the store, of course). Even if a few less-than desirable people use it as an opportunity to walk out of the store with unpaid food, they'll still probably make out in the end.

Oh, and the reason for the open coolers? The stores have to be air-conditioned anyway (heat does evil things to food), so it doesn't make much sense to put doors on any of the cases except the frozen products, especially when lazy people object to having to put forth the effort required to continuously open doors.

So now cities can Gripe about...

[CygnusXII]

So now Cities that have fines for shopping cart being off the premises, can fine a business for Toxic Materials being improperly stored, retained or looked after. On the other hand, the homeless can really look forward to retasking the devices and get internet access.

These are going to be stolen, and hacked.

[Lostie]

Yup, if I saw one at my local supermarket, I'd gladly give up a £1 coin (many UK supermarkets make you put a £1 coin into them as a "deposit") to steal one. For £1, it's a bargain for sure!

Re:These are going to be stolen, and hacked.

[roseblood]

Fujitsu lists the following key features and specifications for the U-Scan Shopper:

* Processor -- 400 MHz Intel XScale
* Memory -- 64 or 128 MB SDRAM; 32 MB Flash
* Display:
o 6.5-inch reflective TFT LCD with VGA resolution
o CCFL backlight with software controls
o Temperature-based contrast compensation
* Wireless -- 802.11b or g; built-in 2.4 GHz antenna
* Scanning -- 2D imager
* Power:
o Main -- 2 6V, 7.2 aH sealed lead acid batteries in locked case
o Backup -- rechargeable lithium ion
o Piezo motion sensor implements power standby mode

Let me tell you, I'd take this thing over the metal wire carts I see stores provide around here!

Dynamic pricing

[SpaceLifeForm]

The company even suggests that customers might upload a shopping list to the store's website before leaving home, and then download the list to the shopping cart upon arriving at the store."

Right. Let them know you're coming. They're sure to have a 'special' just for you, their 'select' customer.

Second Verse, same as the first

[pangur]

I used to work for Pathmark, a grocery shore chain in the Northeast US (specifically NY). About ten years ago the put on all their carts a screen that would notify them of specials in different lanes. You could accept coupons as they were sent to the screen.

I thought it was going to be the next wave of the future.

Within nine months, every cart had the system stripped out.

I don't know the exact reason the system was pulled (I had stopped working there by then). It was flaky, didn't always change display based on aisle, and some panels were broken, either by extreme weather (-20F that winter) or on purpose. Those are not trivial losses for a business with a tiny profit margin.

I use the self-serve checkout stands when I can. Some work fine, others keep telling me to start over from the beginning. Either way is slower than having someone else do it.

All I'm saying, is that it had better be a damn good piece of technology that saves some money on the backend before we see this stuff available at the local supermarket.

Re:Second Verse, same as the first

[Bri3D]

The self-checkout stands are great except for that they're never any faster. Why? The people using them are morons. It doesn't help that the vast majority of them talk obnoxiously and simply confuse people. I especially love the Wal-Mart ones. They run Windows 2000, as I learned after the POS(That's Point of Sale though it might as well be the alternative) application tried to read some protected memory. On these systems, every time you press a button the unit goes unresponsive for ~5secs reading audio data.

Are they constructing traffic pattern maps?

[Cryofan]

I wonder if they are sending back postition signals for collection while you are pushing the cart throughout the store. That way they could map traffic pattern and speeds of all shoppers and use that for marketing analysis....

Re:Vulnerability in Fujitsu Wireless Shopping Cart

[dzarn]

The other problem with the system is bagging. When do things get bagged?

You do realize both the article AND THE PARENT POST said Self-scanning in aisle -- costumers can scan and bag items while shopping, right? I mean, missing the article I can understand, but the post you just read?

Re:Won't someone think of the children.

[T-Ranger]

I invision a world when we need exactly two employees for the entire planet.

A dog.
and
A Person.

The dogs job is to make sure the person doesnt touch the computer.
The persons job is to feed the dog.

The Old New Shopping experience...

[Nik Picker]

Okay , im speaking here from the point of view of all UK shoppers, especially the experience of Tescos.

You go into the store, and are carefully guided and directed up and down and around the aisles your ears assaulted by many multimedia adverts selectively displaying the choice supplemented goodies in the aisle of your choice. Your constantly distracted from the choices your trying to make or the effort of finding the item on your list.

When complete your cart is pushed towards one of 30 ( maybe more ) tills. now you have to locate and define the correct till for your shopping choices. Basket only ? express lane ? wide till ? 5 items or less ? cash only the choices go on .....

Now finnally you unpack, repack , and wait to pay.... here, and here I say is where my blood really boils , is where you cannot possibly leave until youve answered the instore 20 questions before payment is taken..

[till clerk :] do you have a store card ? no would you like on e ? but you get x% off or points ? are you sure ... okay okay ill take that throbbing vein as a no ...

Would you like school vouchers, petrol vouchers, sports voucers, money off vouchers ? sir sir sir , no sir put down the bread stick ......

How will you be paying ? cash ? oh dear thats a little difficult ive not been trained how to count ! .. how about card ? okay good ?

would you like cash back ? do you have vouchers ? did i mention the store card ? ...

okay do you know your pin, good ? could you enter the card pin note this fixed openly visible pin taking device enables the whole world to see you pin number ( please ignore the cctv trained to the overhead view of this till , yes it can see you pin also ! ). okay sir thanks for your pin... have a nice day ?

[end]

You know what I really want from a shopping experience ?

I go in , i put the items in the cart, i unpack, pack and pay and just leave ... no questions, no blaring adverts no constant changing of locations and product layout and no annoying after purchase snail mail spam ......

Could those stores possibly save on the bottom line if instead of finding new ways to get between the customers and the purchase they just let you buy and go ?

okay rant over, nothing to see here , move along now !