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Kinect Grocery Cart Follows Shoppers Around the Store
cylonlover writes "When Chaotic Moon Labs debuted the Kinect-powered Board of Awesomeness — and its mind-reading offspring, the Board of Imagination — that was apparently just a preview of a more practical product the company had in the works. Grocery store chain Whole Foods recently gave a demonstration of Chaotic Moon's latest device, which uses the same technology in a self-propelled shopping cart. The 'Smarter Cart,' as it's been named, can detect what items are placed in it, match those to a shopping list, and even follow shoppers around the store on its own."
Please place the item in your cart. You have 20 seconds to comply.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
... and the cart can't find its way around the other shoppers. Remember, compared to its "owner" the cart is rather bulky, and may have some trouble advancing in situations which pose no problem for the owner...
If they want to impress me, then find a way to let me order groceries from home to be delivered at my home at no additional charge.
That has to be possible. Look at Amazon with their no shipping charges on anything over 25 dollars rule. If the grocery stores had that it would be amazing. And while some people might like going to the grocery store... I don't like shopping in person.
How great would it be if you could order everything up at home, compare all the prices from a dozen outlets, and get everything you want right to your front door.
Some might say it has to cost extra for that. But does it? Think of what you'd save if you didn't have to have so many grocery stores. Imagine if instead you had a small number of convenience stores for common items and everything else came from warehouses. The warehouses are there anyway. That's where the stores get everything from. So instead of a big truck coming around at 2 AM to restock the grocery store... the trucks instead move around your neighborhood dropping off packages of groceries. Frozen goods can be packed in ice. There is a theft issue there but we can work that out with something that looks like a big specialty mail box.
This is doable and it would be much more efficient. Less traffic on the road. Less real estate wasted on a service that isn't required.
Everything can go from the warehouse to our door step. Just a web prompt in between.
Some people don't have computers? Put a kiosk in the convenience store and they can have it delivered to their home.
Maybe this is a stupid idea... But I'd use it exclusively.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Without much more difficulty they could automate the whole process:
1) voice recognition or remote interaction with the cart. - The shopper reads their grocery list to the cart and it goes on it's way. Your cart doesn't need to worry about colliding with people so it's free to move much faster on pre-programmed routes.
shopper: "Kellog's flakes"
cart: "Returns three results. Frosted, unfrosted, and with raisins. Please state preference"
or
cart: "Our Great Values store brand costs 20% less. If you were to buy store equivalents today you would save $27.00 total."
The store apps for android and iphone are mostly spamware right now, but you could turn them into automated shopping cart list builders.
2) Shelves use automation to load items onto the cart in a hands free process. Delicate items are loaded in a dedicated area by store staff.
Shoppers wait in the front of the store in an expanded deli area. No checkout, just swipe your credit card and out the door. No more navigating around idiots in scooters. No more shoplifting. No more congested isles.
It really depends on the store. The original Whole Foods in New Orleans was, as we all used to joke, like shopping with 50 of your closest friends in a closet (It was by far the smallest non-family-owned grocery store I've every been in, even the A&P in the French Quarter was larger). When they built the new one uptown it was much more open and nicer. Now that I'm in the Boston area, the ones in Cambridge (near Mass Ave) and Woburn are definitely smallish and occasionally uncomfortable, the other one in Cambridge (near Alewife) and the one in Dedham are great though. As much or more room than any normal grocery store. I think a lot depends on age and location. The earliest ones were built where ever they could get the cheapest rent, as time went on 9and profits went up) they went to the medium sized stores for smaller markets or already served areas, and actually large nice store for flagship locations.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
Even with these automated carts, I'll still get the one that pulls to the left and sounds like a hyena got caught in the wheel.