PRE2018 1 Group3 1203310

Introduction:

With the fast advances of technology there is a lot of change that the world is undergoing now. A lot of everyday tasks get more automated and some of these are taken over by a robot counterpart. Here we will take a look into the world of automated grocery shopping, or at least part of it in this case. We are talking about a robotic store clerk that could be able to do the same things a regular one would do. One of these tasks are navigation around the store, but most of the time a common store clerk does not think a lot about it. If someone would want to design a robotic counterpart, there are several obstacles you would have to overcome. Obstacles in a literal sense, like store shelves, customers, shopping carts etc. There are apparently some cases that are interesting to look at and what effect they have to the shelf filling experience. What we are focussing on in this case is a robots interaction with the way customers act in tandem with a shopping cart. A shopping cart plays an interesting factor in the behavior of an average consumer.

Problem statement:

Ever wondered how customers move about in a store? Are you aware of your own behavior when moving about and how much do you take your environment in consideration. These are all questions that can be asked when we are talking about the navigation around a store. So when someone would design a robot to do the same activities, this should all be taken into consideration. The main differences between a robot and a human should be highlighted to know what we are capable of and look at the things we could take advantage of.