Future scope

The smart shopping trolley has a high beneficiary future aspect. the project can be modified for better performance in several categories.

the trolley can communicate with the cloud platform and mention the activity it is performing, like moving to the stack, or stooped due to the presence of an obstacle. this will enable the administrative staff knows about the function of the trolley. the trolley can be modified so that it can detect obstacles and behave with the presence of obstacles without disturbing them. 
The smart shopping trolley can be equipped with RFID  sensors so that the trolley can be tracked more efficiently by the administrative staff. RFID sensors and tags can be used to detect the product chosen by the customer. this will help to analyze the shopping activities of customers and gather data about people thoughts on various products. RFID sensors will also enable the trolley to calculate the bill itself. this will save customers time from standing in the queue while checking out. 

Furthermore, the trolley can be controlled from the dashboard by the administrative staff by using two-way communication of the cloud platform. In this project only one-way communication, which means the dashboard could receive information from the sensors through ESP8266.

How does Smart Shopping Trolley work??

The equipment used in these project is very easy to use and locally available. The mechanism of the process is quite simple and user-friendly. Arduino/ Genuine board as a microcontroller and ESP8266 is used as the WiFi module to connect with the cloud.

Adafruit cloud storage is used to view the sensor data on the dashboard. The trolley is connected with Arduino and the related programming codes are being uploaded there.  The weight sensors are connected with ESP8266 and it is the medium between the cloud and the sensors. 

when the customer completes her shopping, he/she presses the stop button. when the button turns on, the esp8266 takes data from the weight sensors. If the weight sensor indicates that the trolley is empty, it triggers the Arduino to return back to the stack. The trolley will move on the basis of single line robot, however, Arduino and Esp8266 are connected to each other.

What is Smart Shopping Trolley

The smart shopping trolley is designed to make the shopping much easier. The Smart trolley is equipped with a range of functions to create an interactive shopping experience between the user and the trolley. supermarket holders have been faced regarding the trolley. the trolleys are often taken outside the supermarket premises or are not returned to the trolley stack. this project will help trolleys to return back to the stack and also be monitored by the administrative staff. this will reduce the rate of trolley theft and damage. 

There have been continuous advancements in the previous years to make supermarkets more user-friendly. A customer can now check all the available products in the market at the trolley. In this project, IoT is utilized to assist the trolley to guide itself and monitor its location. The main focus of this project is to reduce the waiting time of the customers at the billing area and also to keep track of the position of the trolley. The trolley will act like a robot and will be programmed to return back to the stack of trolleys whenever the weight sensor senses the trolley is empty. Customer will initiate the process of shopping by starting the trolley simply by pushing a button. The weight sensor operates only when the shopping is completed which is again marked by the customers by pushing the stop button. The data of the sensors are transferred to the cloud. The trolley web-app will fetch data from the cloud and will run necessary programs. Our system will make the administration aware of the number of trolleys available to customers for shopping, the number of trolleys in use, the location of trolleys and also will help in their arrangement without any additional staff.