Amazon, that online shopping destination which started even before online shopping was a trend. This site provides everything ranging from safety pins to huge truck parts, that’s how relevant Amazon has become in our lives. Amazon also launched its grocery stores from the year 2016 and has had over 500 stores successfully running in the country. However, Amazon has shifted its focus from Amazon Go (grocery store) to a much-advanced system- register-free stores.
The coronavirus has made a panic in everyone’s mind from touching any items without sanitizing. This initiative to start register-free stores is an addition to safety during this pandemic. One must be wondering, what makes carrying a small bag to the store and purchasing the item so difficult. Well, it is difficult when carrying a certain volume of groceries from the store on a daily basis. This program is an initiative to eliminate this issue and making the shopping-cart itself a part of the high-tech retail experience.
Amazon ‘Dash cart’ will be launching this year in Los Angeles with the company’s supermarket. The ‘Dash Cart’ requires the customer to connect to the cart using the Amazon app on their phone. Then they can grab the items and add to the cart. There’s a touchscreen panel on the front handle to drop in fresh produces that doesn’t necessarily have barcodes in them. When a shopper is done with their grocery trip, they roll the cart out of the “dash lane,” grab their now paid-for groceries and saunter away. The cart is not completely foolproof, but can definitely identify you try to steal an item.
The technology behind this genius system is basically computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion to ID and scan the items added to the cart and check them out when it’s done. Dilip Kumar, Amazon VP, claims the program helps the customer to save their time in long queues, fumbling and irritated.
One of the biggest funny questions hanging about these carts are, can they detect if they are left off at a car parking or bus stops. Who knows? The technology is built-in, there could be initial errors that can’t be unseen but since we live in a fast-moving world, every advancement is to be welcomed to make the world a better place.
