Ai electric food shopping CART  

Grocobot

 

Something similar that exists: https://www.caper.ai/

Literally what our previous product idea is: https://www.shopic.co/home/ 

 

Graphs: People buying unhealthy foods, going over budget, diseases

 

INTRO

In the era where AI is being integrated into our everyday lives, the discussion of the AI shopping cart has been in broad discussion. The AI shopping cart is an already made invention as well as the innovation of using a manual tablet to give your normal cart AI feature. However we decided to further improve upon it. Unlike the original, we decided to add more to the concept. With the Grocobot, any information you apply to the tablet will be utilized best to help you. With the built in AI “coach” helping the owner maintain and keep track of their diet when shopping for foods, preventing them from overspending in addition to helping to maintain or obtain a healthy lifestyle. You could also take it a step further,, with the utmost confidentiality, you could add any personal health concerns you have, and the Grocobot will notify you if the products you are putting in your cart violates or helps you. With all of the things being proposed, this is how it all works. 

 As technology is quickly advancing, we have the means to further improve the AI shopping cart. With the past swiftly moving away, we have transformed your average cart into a super cart with the newly modified system, the GrocoBot (trademarked), helping you in ways you never imagined. It may be hard to believe, but we will explain it right away.

 

In the United states of America food is wasted at an alarming rate, and about one third of the food is wasted from the consumer. According to phys.org “U.S. consumers waste a lot of food year-round—about one-third of all purchased food. That’s equivalent to 1,250 calories per person per day, or US$1,500 worth of groceries for a four-person household each year, an estimate that doesn’t include recent food price inflation.”(figure 1). This is where our product comes in, not only you can track the caloric needs of the individuals in your family you can also set their caloric needs. If an individual is working out/ or an athlete depending on their caloric maintenance which could be cut, bulk or maintaining the app will be designed to make sure they are met with their intake through the shopping cycle. That isn’t the only purpose, even if an individual is suffering from a disease they can be assisted with our app, through providing us with bloodwork and the type of disease the person is suffering from, for example if he is diabetic and the required blood work is provided to the app can set a limit in high in added sugars, saturated and trans fats. The tablet is meant to used for everyone in everyage, you can track if your buying the right amount of supply if there is a family and there are athletic individuals participating in variety sport, the tablet will suggest recommendation of the newest product in the market that can further progress and athletes performance by providing the right nutrition   the tablet can set an amount in how   The user of the product can set their shopping cycle to what they prefer. If they have to shop biweekly, monthly, or bimonthly, by looking at each individual’s caloric intake and nutritional needs the tablet will suggest how much to shop for the product, and keep a history of what products are repeated and will add it to your suggested grocery list.

BODY

This smart shopping cart isn’t like any other, it has mobility assistance, artificial intelligence and a user centric design aimed at making your grocery shopping better. At its core, the cart jas hardware and software to perform real-time data analysis, nutritional tracking, budgeting, and even personalized health feedback. The system is built for a wide demographic of our shoppers including, elderly, individuals with disability and tech savvy shoppers. 

The cart is powered from a brushless DC motor which is sustainable and better longevity, this motor is connected to the omnidirectional wheels that provide smooth directions.It uses a combination of ultrasonic sensors, infrared proximity detectors, and computer vision to detect and avoid obstacles.These sensors allow the cart to autonomously follow a user within a defined range or navigate short distances on its own, for example when an user of our cart is moving to a checkout counter. The cart is also installed with a GPS and RFID which helps the cart to reposition itself in larger supermarkets.

A microcontroller, such as an arduino, manages motor control, obstacle detection, and route planning. There is a wired communication with the carts tablet, allowing coordination between the user interface and navigation hardware.The user can set the cart to “Follow Mode” or “Stationary Mode” through the app interface, allowing disabled or distracted users to be assisted without manual cart pushing.  

Mounted at the front of the Cart is a 15 inch Android powered tablet. This tablet serves as the main user interface and is preloaded with a multifunctional application developed in Java. The tablet has a high definition camera which has a preinstalled barcode scanner used to scan product labels and retrieve real-time nutritional and pricing information through an internet-connected database.

The application uses RESTful APIs to fetch product data from retailer databases, nutritional info from public and private food databases Upon scanning an item, the app analyzes calories, macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats), sodium, sugar, and more, then displays warnings or suggestions based on user-specific dietary constraints.

The user of the smart cart can manually by using our smart camera to scan  or link medical data  such as recent blood work through an app integration with electronic health record systems like MyChart. The app uses machine learning algorithms to analyze patterns and suggest diet changes.

For budgeting, the app uses real-time price tracking and a smart calculator. As items are scanned or placed into the cart, a load-cell based weight sensor and RFID reader verify the addition. Prices are added to a running total and visualized on-screen. Users receive notifications if they’re close to or over budget and are offered cheaper or healthier alternatives when available.

The system supports multiple user profiles and biometric logins via facial recognition or fingerprint sensors on the tablet. The UI includes accessibility features like voice assistance, high-contrast text, screen reading, and multilingual support. Users can toggle between different shopping modes such as “Quick List,” “Healthy Mode,” “Allergy Mode,” or “Meal Planner,” each offering personalized suggestions and alerts.

All data processing and storage are encrypted. The cart connects via Wi-Fi or 5G to cloud servers hosted on secure platforms like AWS or Azure, ensuring fast processing and data synchronization. The app follows modern cybersecurity protocols like OAuth 2.0 for user authentication and TLS encryption for data transmission. The cart can also operate in offline mode, storing data locally and syncing once reconnected.

Contradiction

As innovative as the shopping cart there are many concerns to be raised.One major challenge is the balance between privacy and personalization. To offer accurate dietary and health-based suggestions, the cart must access sensitive data  of the user, which would be their medical records leading to raise concerns on their privacy and data.To combat this, future versions could process data locally using edge computing, ensure all data is encrypted, and offer full transparency and user control over what’s shared and will be supplied from a reliable health supplier for the user ‘s data to be private. Furthermore, there will also be concerns in convenience and cost, autonomous movement, nutritional tracking, and RFID scanning would make the cart expensive to build and maintain, which will make it upscale to the consumers. This could be mitigated by partnering with other companies such as Zebra technologies, and other healthcare companies and advertising different brands to cover the cost, to promote healthier lifestyles. 

  There’s also tension between healthy guidance and consumer freedom. Some shoppers may feel judged or restricted when the cart flags their unhealthy food choices. This can be resolved by allowing users to adjust the strictness of alerts and framing feedback in a positive and empowering way. Incorporating a sense of earning points for the user could be a valid direction to take instead of criticizing them for their health choices, signing with partners and rewarding them to be healthy. Lastly, the system depends heavily on real-time data and internet connectivity to function smoothly. Any network disruption could impact the experience. To counteract this, the cart would feature offline capabilities with cached data to do seamless shopping.

Moreover  important contradiction the smart shopping cart may face is data accuracy versus product diversity. For the system to provide correct nutritional information and pricing, it relies heavily on up-to-date databases and accurate product scans. However, with thousands of brands, frequent inventory changes and  private-label items, maintaining consistent and accurate data becomes a challenge. A mislabeled item or outdated nutritional profile could mislead users, especially those managing health conditions like diabetes or hypertension. To address this in the future, developers can implement machine learning algorithms that cross-check multiple data sources, allow stores and brands to update information in real time, and even crowdsource corrections from users. More measures can be taken when the store signs with us, and we can keep updating the data as store pushes their products and keeps a good connection.

Future of the product

The future of the smart shopping cart is bright, with the potential to reshape how people shop, eat, and manage their health. As technology continues to evolve, the cart will become even more intelligent, capable of not only tracking individual products but also predicting customer preferences, suggesting recipes based on dietary goals, and providing real-time alerts if a user exceeds their daily limits for sugar, sodium, or calories. Integration with wearables like fitness trackers or smartwatches will allow the cart to pull in data like heart rate, activity levels, or glucose levels, further personalizing the shopping experience. In the long term, this could make grocery shopping an essential part of preventative healthcare.

From a social and global perspective, the cart could contribute significantly to public health initiatives. Governments and health agencies may see value in supporting or subsidizing this technology, especially in areas struggling with diet-related illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, or high blood pressure. The smart cart could be deployed in lower-income neighborhoods to help residents make better choices through education and awareness at the point of sale. Partnerships with food manufacturers and local farmers could also provide more transparency about sourcing, promoting sustainable and ethical food options. As the cart collects more anonymized data across users, it could be used to identify health trends and shape future nutrition campaigns or retail policies.

Technologically, the cart is likely to advance just through AI and automation. The future models may no longer need manual scanning; built in cameras and computers  could instantly recognize items as they’re placed in the cart. Voice assistants and gesture recognition may allow hands-free interaction, while augmented reality on the tablet could visually guide shoppers to healthier alternatives. Integration with smart home devices will mean that your fridge can tell your cart what’s running low, making grocery trips more efficient and less wasteful. As artificial intelligence becomes more advance, the cart could even help with long-term meal planning, suggest seasonal ingredients, or warn against allergens or food recalls based on your household’s profile.