Smart Shopping Cart (Curbing Cart Chaos)

What we hope to achieve is to reduce the number of carts being littered/abandoned around Singapore.

BeginnerWork in progress114

Smart Shopping Cart (Curbing Cart Chaos)

Things used in this project

Hardware components

M5Stack FIRE IoT Development Kit (PSRAM 2.0)

M5Stack Mini RFID Unit RC522 Module Sensor

SG90 Micro-servo motor

Software apps and online services

M5Stack UI Flow

Story

FairPrice Workers bringing back trolleys.

We aim to reduce the number of shopping carts that are being littered and abandoned around Singapore. From our research, we discovered a report done by Singapore Ministry of National Development (MND), the report collated the number of missing carts in Singapore from 2019 at 5429 carts to 2020 at 6662 carts.

Analyzing the results with an assortment of related news articles, we concluded that an upward trend was seen in the number of missing carts over time. Hence, as it was proven that an increasing number of carts was getting misplaced each year, we made this product prototype as a large amount of taxpayer dollars were being wasted on recovering and repairing damage to these lost carts as well a prevent accidents related to rogue shopping carts in the future.

This product works by having users scan their cards on the RFID sensor located where the traditional coin operated lock should be, which then sends a signal to a servo motor located inside to unlock or lock the shopping cart.

Our main objectives:

To educate shoppers and the general public on the importance of returning carts after use.
To encourage the widespread adoption of energy efficient technologies and practices in retail operations

Research:

On average, lost shopping carts cost up to $150,000 just for a single supermarket brand.
-Some behemoth supermarket brands in Singapore include, FairPrice, Sheng Siong, Giant, and many more.
The Sunday Times received 6559 reports of abandoned trolleys just last year in 2023
FairPrice employees do trolley retrieval runs around the Jurong West neighborhood everyday at 9 am and 2:30 pm.
The trolleys are sometimes littered with rubbish, which employees have to clear out.
FairPrice employees said it was strenuous and challenging to push rows of trolleys along the pavements, where there are pedestrians, back to the mall.

Project:

Lock System: Using a servo motor, we can use it to build a mechanism to lock and unlock the shopping cart.
Card Scanner: Using an RFID sensor, we can read the card UID of the user that uses the shopping cart and store this information in a system.
Online Registration: Users will have to register their information in an app such as their name, card UID, and email address. This app can also be used to lock and unlock the shopping cart without needing the user to tap their card.
Cart App: It rewards users for using and returning the shopping cart back to its original supermarket location. Points can be converted to money or vouchers that provide discounts depending on how many points the user has.

Schematics

File missing, please reupload.

Code

Main M5Stack Code

from m5stack import *
from m5ui import *
from uiflow import *
import time
import unit

setScreenColor(0xd1d1d1)
rfid_0 = unit.get(unit.RFID, unit.PORTA)
servo_0 = unit.get(unit.SERVO, unit.PORTB)


Card = None
Lock = None
LSec = None
Secs = None
ReadCard = None
LSec10 = None
Secs1_10 = None
LSec100 = None
Secs1_100 = None



label0 = M5TextBox(50, 107, "Please Scan Card", lcd.FONT_DejaVu24, 0xff0000, rotate=0)
title0 = M5Title(title="Welcome to C-Arty", x=100, fgcolor=0xFFFFFF, bgcolor=0x1e9500)
rectangle0 = M5Rect(194, 31, 100, 25, 0xFFFFFF, 0x108e00)
label2 = M5TextBox(50, 137, "Text", lcd.FONT_Default, 0x000000, rotate=0)
Timer = M5TextBox(200, 38, "Time:", lcd.FONT_Default, 0x000000, rotate=0)
label3 = M5TextBox(56, 219, "End", lcd.FONT_Default, 0x000000, rotate=0)
Sec = M5TextBox(238, 38, "00", lcd.FONT_Default, 0x000000, rotate=0)
Sec10 = M5TextBox(256, 38, "00", lcd.FONT_Default, 0x000000, rotate=0)
Sec100 = M5TextBox(273, 38, "00", lcd.FONT_Default, 0x000000, rotate=0)
label1 = M5TextBox(143, 219, "Time", lcd.FONT_Default, 0x000000, rotate=0)
label4 = M5TextBox(88, 137, "Text", lcd.FONT_Default, 0x000000, rotate=0)
label5 = M5TextBox(126, 137, "Text", lcd.FONT_Default, 0x000000, rotate=0)

from numbers import Number



def buttonA_wasReleased():
  global Card, Lock, LSec, Secs, ReadCard, LSec10, Secs1_10, LSec100, Secs1_100
  label0.setText('To Lock Scan Card')
  wait(5)
  while (rfid_0.isCardOn()) and Lock == 1:
    Lock = 0
    ReadCard = rfid_0.readUid()
    label0.setText('Processing...')
    rgb.setColorAll(0xffff00)
    wait(1)
    if ReadCard == Card:
      wait(1)
      label0.setText('Thanks For Shopping')
      speaker.tone(400, 200)
      rgb.setColorAll(0x33ff33)
      servo_0.write_angle(0)
      LSec = Secs
      LSec10 = Secs1_10
      LSec100 = Secs1_100
      break
    else:
      wait(1)
      label0.setText('Scan Same Card')
      speaker.tone(200, 200)
      rgb.setColorAll(0xffff00)
  pass
btnA.wasReleased(buttonA_wasReleased)

def buttonB_wasReleased():
  global Card, Lock, LSec, Secs, ReadCard, LSec10, Secs1_10, LSec100, Secs1_100
  label4.show()
  label5.show()
  label2.setText(str(LSec))
  label4.setText(str(LSec10))
  label5.setText(str(LSec100))
  wait(10)
  label4.hide()
  label5.hide()
  pass
btnB.wasReleased(buttonB_wasReleased)


servo_0.write_angle(0)
Card = '5213fc11ac'
Lock = 0
Secs = 0
Secs1_10 = 0
Secs1_100 = 0
label4.hide()
label5.hide()
while True:
  if Secs1_100 >= 59:
    Secs1_10 = (Secs1_10 if isinstance(Secs1_10, Number) else 0) + 1
    Secs1_100 = -1
    if Secs1_10 >= 59:
      Secs = (Secs if isinstance(Secs, Number) else 0) + 1
      Secs1_10 = 0
  wait(1)
  Secs1_100 = (Secs1_100 if isinstance(Secs1_100, Number) else 0) + 1
  Sec.setText(str(Secs))
  Sec10.setText(str(Secs1_10))
  Sec100.setText(str(Secs1_100))
  if (rfid_0.isCardOn()) and Lock == 0:
    Lock = 1
    ReadCard = rfid_0.readUid()
    rgb.setColorAll(0xffff00)
    label2.setText(str(rfid_0.readUid()))
    label0.setText('Processing...')
    if ReadCard == Card:
      wait(1)
      label0.setText('Unlocked')
      rgb.setColorAll(0x33ff33)
      speaker.tone(400, 200)
      wait(1)
      servo_0.write_angle(90)
      label0.setText('Enjoy Shopping!')
    else:
      wait(1)
      label0.setText('Scan Same Card')
      rgb.setColorAll(0xff0000)
      speaker.tone(200, 200)
  wait_ms(2)

Smart Shopping Cart (Curbing Cart Chaos)