Remote Shopping Cart Automation for Contactless Store Pickup
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Solution Overview
Problem
During global pandemics, shoppers face challenges in maintaining social distancing and hygiene while retrieving purchased items from physical stores, as existing shopping methods often require in-person interaction and do not allow for real-time order modifications or secure, contactless delivery.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method for contactless remote shopping assistance using a mobility device, such as an autonomous robotic cart, that receives orders, navigates the store to retrieve items, and delivers them to a user's vehicle in a parking lot, allowing for real-time order updates and secure payment processing, including livestream video monitoring and vehicle confirmation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If shoppers visit physical stores to retrieve purchased items, then they can receive their orders, but they face health and safety risks during pandemics due to required in-person interaction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mobility device as an intermediary between the user and the retail store environment. The device autonomously navigates the store, retrieves items, and delivers them to the user's vehicle, eliminating the need for the user to physically enter the store and thereby removing direct contact with potential contaminants while ensuring reliable order fulfillment
Solution Approach 2:
The mobility device operates autonomously to perform the shopping task without requiring the user's physical presence. The device independently navigates the retail environment, locates and retrieves ordered items, and delivers them to the designated location, enabling the system to serve itself and the user without human intervention inside the store
2Ease of operation
If users place orders remotely, then they can avoid in-person interaction, but existing methods do not allow for real-time order modifications or secure delivery confirmation
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where the mobility device transmits real-time status information to the user device, including order retrieval progress, item location, and delivery confirmation. The user can also send modification requests that are immediately communicated to the device, enabling bidirectional real-time communication and maintaining information symmetry between user and system
Solution Approach 2:
The mobility device is designed with multi-functionality to handle various tasks: navigating the store, locating items using sensors, retrieving different types of products, securing items in its cargo area, and delivering to various vehicles. This universal capability allows the single device to fulfill diverse shopping requirements while maintaining real-time communication throughout the process
3Extent of automation
If a mobility device autonomously retrieves and delivers items, then contactless fulfillment is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions into the mobility device: navigation capabilities, item detection sensors, cargo storage, and communication systems are integrated into a single autonomous platform. By merging these previously separate systems into one unified device, the patent achieves high automation while managing complexity through integration rather than separate components
Solution Approach 2:
The mobility device uses sensors and imaging systems to create digital representations of the retail environment and locate items. The device captures visual data to identify products, verify item retrieval, and confirm delivery to the correct vehicle, using optical copying and recognition techniques to simplify the complexity of autonomous navigation and item identification
Data Source
AI summary
In an approach to facilitate contactless remote shopping assistance, a computer-implemented method includes one or more processors configured for receiving first order data from a user device corresponding to an order of items to be retrieved from a parking lot of a retail entity proximate to a retail entity location, transmitting the first order data to the retail entity, and assigning the order to a mobility device stationed at the retail entity. The method further includes transmitting order retrieval instructions to the mobility device causing the mobility device to navigate the retail to secure the items, receiving an indication that the mobility device secured the items, and transmitting order delivery instructions to the mobility device. The method further includes receiving a second indication that the mobility device transported the items to the parking lot and placed the items in a vehicle associated with a user of the user device.