Autonomous Shopping Cart Self-Navigation to Charging Station
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Solution Overview
Problem
Shopping carts equipped with information terminals and batteries often get abandoned in various locations, making it difficult for subsequent users to find them and interfering with passage, while also preventing the battery from being charged, which disables the information terminal.
Innovation Solution
An autonomously traveling cart system equipped with a moving mechanism, memory for map data, and a processor that allows the cart to detect its position and autonomously travel to a designated storage space for charging, using a power receiver to recharge the battery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If shopping carts are left in various locations after use, then users have flexibility in returning carts, but subsequent users cannot find the carts and passage is interfered with
Solution Approach 1:
The cart autonomously navigates and returns itself to the storage area without requiring user intervention. The cart detects its own position using position detection means and autonomously travels to the charging/storage area using autonomous travel means, enabling the system to service itself rather than relying on user action.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical action of users returning carts is replaced by an automated control system. The processor executes control programs that coordinate position detection, route planning, and movement control to automatically return the cart to the storage area, substituting human mechanical action with an automated electromechanical system.
2Ease of operation
If shopping carts are left in various locations, then users have flexibility, but battery charging is prevented and information terminal functionality is disabled
Solution Approach 1:
The cart autonomously seeks out and positions itself at the charging area. The system monitors battery status and automatically navigates to the charging storage area when charging is needed, enabling the cart to service its own power needs without user intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors the charged state of the battery through detection means and uses this feedback to trigger autonomous travel to the charging area when charging is required. The processor receives feedback on battery status and adjusts the cart's behavior accordingly, creating a closed-loop control system.
3Ease of operation
If shopping carts are abandoned in public areas, then immediate user convenience is maintained, but passage interference and vehicle interference occur
Solution Approach 1:
The cart performs the return action automatically after use without requiring user initiation. The autonomous travel mechanism is activated based on detected conditions (such as battery status or usage completion), executing the return action before the cart becomes an obstacle, thereby preventing passage interference proactively.
4Device complexity
If manual cart return is required, then simple system structure is maintained, but user burden increases and cart return compliance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The cart becomes self-sufficient by incorporating autonomous travel means and position detection means that enable it to navigate and return to the storage area independently. This transfers the operational burden from the user to the cart's automated systems, eliminating the need for manual return actions.
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomously traveling cart system includes a mover, a memory, a position detector, and a processor. The mover moves a cart main body. The memory stores map data indicating an autonomously traveling cart storage space installed in an area where the cart main body is movable. The position detector detects a position of the cart main body. The processor designs a moving route from the position of the cart main body which the position detector detects toward the autonomously traveling cart storage space indicated by the map data, and allows the cart main body to move toward the autonomously traveling cart storage space by the mover.