A shopping facility assistance system includes a plurality of motorized transport units, a plurality of user interface units, and a central computer system having a network interface such that the central computer system wirelessly communicates with one or both of the motorized transport units and the user interface units. The central computer system is configured to control movement of the motorized transport units through a shopping facility space based at least on inputs from the user interface units. More particularly, the central computer system controls movement of the motorized transport units such that a given one of the plurality of motorized transport units selectively leads a user to a destination within the shopping facility or follows the user within the shopping facility as determined by the central computer system. By one approach, the motorized transport units move through the shopping facility via a plurality of preferred pre-determined path segments.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for determining item availability are provided. A computer implemented method for determining item availability in a shopping space comprising: receiving a request for an item for purchase from a customer, querying an inventory database to determine whether the item for purchase is in stock, in an event that the item for purchase is not in stock according to the inventory database: determining an out of stock response to present to the customer, in an event that the item for purchase is in stock according the inventory database: instructing a motorized transport unit to travel to a display space in the shopping space corresponding to the item for the purchase, determining whether the item is available in the display space based on information captured by one or more sensors of the motorized transport unit, and in an event that the item for purchase is not available in the display space: determining an item unavailable response to present to the customer.

Methods and apparatuses are provided for use in monitoring product placement within a shopping facility. Some embodiments provide an apparatus configured to determine product placement conditions within a shopping facility, comprising: a transceiver configured to wirelessly receive communications; a product monitoring control circuit coupled with the transceiver; a memory coupled with the control circuit and storing computer instructions that when executed by the control circuit cause the control circuit to: obtain a composite three-dimensional (3D) scan mapping corresponding to at least a select area of the shopping facility and based on a series of 3D scan data; evaluate the 3D scan mapping to identify multiple product depth distances; and identify, from the evaluation of the 3D scan mapping, when one or more of the multiple product depth distances is greater than a predefined depth distance threshold from the reference offset distance of the product support structure.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for determining item availability are provided. A computer implemented method for determining item availability in a shopping space comprising: receiving a request for an item for purchase, instructing a motorized transport unit to travel to a display space in the shopping space corresponding to the item for the purchase, determining whether the item is available in the display space based on information captured by one or more sensors of the motorized transport unit, and in an event that the item for purchase is not available in the display space: determining an item unavailable response to present to the customer.

An automated process for separating and recycling a broad mix of waste material including, but not limited to, paper and flexible plastics. A materials recovery facility (MRF) collects, presorts, and separates into individual commodities the material, then separates partially processed 2D blends from 3D containers, while refraining from any quality control of the 2D blends, and bales the 2D blends. A fiber center receives the bales from the MRF, aggregates the partially processed 2D blends, removes recyclable commodities including flexible plastics from the 2D blends, aggregates each recyclable commodity that is removed from the 2D blends, and forms separate commodity streams of clean paper and clean flexible plastics. Also provided are a related fiber center (and an infrastructure including the center) and at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium embodying software for performing the process.

An apparatus comprises a plurality of motorized mobile retail facility personal assistance apparatuses and a central computer system. The central computer system includes a network interface that permits the central computer system to wirelessly communicate with the mobile apparatuses and also with at least one user interface unit. Upon receiving a request to use one of the mobile apparatuses, the central computer system assigns an available apparatuses for use by a user during a usage session. This activity can include interfacing with the user to determine one or more specifics regarding their current needs in these regards. The specifics of their needs, in turn, can provide a basis for assigning a particular apparatus from amongst a plurality of differently purposed and differently configured apparatuses.

Apparatuses, components and methods are provided herein useful to provide assistance to customers and/or workers in a shopping facility. In some embodiments, a shopping facility personal assistance system comprises: a plurality of motorized transport units located in and configured to move through a shopping facility space; a plurality of user interface units, each corresponding to a respective motorized transport unit during use of the respective motorized transport unit; and a central computer system having a network interface such that the central computer system wirelessly communicates with one or both of the plurality of motorized transport units and the plurality of user interface units, wherein the central computer system is configured to control movement of the plurality of motorized transport units through the shopping facility space based at least on inputs from the plurality of user interface units.

Some embodiments include a track system comprising: an elevated track system comprising a series of elevated tracks that are positioned elevated above a sales floor and products distributed over at least a portion of the sales floor of a retail store, and configured such that multiple motorized transport units travel along the series of elevated tracks in traversing at least portions of the retail store.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for restoring shopping space conditions are provided. A system for restoring shopping space conditions comprises a motorized transport unit comprising at least one sensor, and a central computer system comprising a wireless transceiver for communicating with the motorized transport unit. The central computer system being configured to: identify a section of a shopping space having a dropped item, instruct the motorized transport unit to travel to the section of the shopping space and collect information associated with the dropped item using the at least one sensor, determine a characteristic of the dropped item in the section of the shopping space using the at least one sensor of the motorized transport unit, and select a cleaning task from a plurality of cleaning tasks based on the characteristic of the dropped item.

Methods and apparatuses are provided for use in monitoring product placement within a shopping facility. Some embodiments provide an apparatus configured to determine product placement conditions within a shopping facility, comprising: a transceiver configured to wirelessly receive communications; a product monitoring control circuit coupled with the transceiver; a memory coupled with the control circuit and storing computer instructions that when executed by the control circuit cause the control circuit to: obtain a composite three-dimensional (3D) scan mapping corresponding to at least a select area of the shopping facility and based on a series of 3D scan data; evaluate the 3D scan mapping to identify multiple product depth distances; and identify, from the evaluation of the 3D scan mapping, when one or more of the multiple product depth distances is greater than a predefined depth distance threshold from the reference offset distance of the product support structure.