Mobile Navigation System for Hands-Free Grocery Picking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Grocery pickers face inefficiencies in navigating stores to find unfamiliar items, especially when handling multiple orders, as they often need to manually switch between order screens on their devices, leading to repetitive store traversals and increased fulfillment times.
Innovation Solution
A mobile-assisted navigation system that uses sensor data from user devices to track movements and infer when items are picked, providing hands-free route guidance without requiring affirmative user interaction, allowing pickers to focus on item retrieval without managing their device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If pickers manually switch between order screens on their mobile devices to find items, then they can access order information, but this causes repetitive store traversals and increases fulfillment time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple order screens and item locations into a single integrated navigation view. The mobile application displays a consolidated route that shows multiple items from different orders along with their locations and directions, allowing pickers to access all necessary order information in one unified interface rather than switching between multiple screens.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary route planning and item location analysis before the picker enters the store. The mobile application pre-calculates an optimized route that sequences multiple items across different orders, providing turn-by-turn directions and location information in advance, so the picker does not need to make decisions or switch screens during the picking process.
2Productivity
If pickers focus on navigating the store and finding items, then they can complete orders efficiently, but they cannot simultaneously manage multiple order screens on their device
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile application automatically tracks the picker's location using sensor data and autonomously updates navigation directions and item location information. The system self-adjusts the route and provides context-aware guidance without requiring the picker to manually manage or switch between order screens, freeing the picker to focus entirely on navigation and item retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical interaction of manually switching between order screens with an automated sensor-based tracking system. The mobile application uses accelerometer, gyroscope, and GPS data to automatically detect the picker's movements and update navigation information, substituting manual device management with automated electronic sensing and processing.
3Quantity of substance
If pickers traverse the store multiple times to pick items from different orders, then they can access all required items, but this creates inefficient routes and increases travel time
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary route optimization by analyzing all items across multiple orders and calculating an efficient sequence that minimizes travel time. The mobile application provides a pre-planned route that sequences item retrieval locations optimally, allowing the picker to complete all item acquisitions in a single efficient traversal rather than making multiple trips.
Solution Approach 2:
The navigation system dynamically adapts the route based on real-time picker location data from sensors. As the picker moves through the store, the system continuously updates directions and re-sequences remaining items to maintain optimal route efficiency, allowing flexible adaptation while ensuring all items are retrieved without requiring pre-defined rigid paths.
Data Source
AI summary
An optimized route to pick a list of items through a store is obtained. Sensor data for a mobile device of a user is evaluated in real time to provide fine-grain orientation, direction, location, and behaviors of the user along the route during a picking session. A determination is made based on the sensor data and a current portion of the route that the user has picked a current item from the store and a next item along with its route guidance is provided to the user without any user action being required. In an embodiment, tactile, speech, and/or audible feedback is provided from the device when the determination is made that an item was picked by the user. In an embodiment, predefined movements of the device are identified as user-provided route commands and processed on behalf of the user during the session.