A pushcart vending system that includes a plurality of pushcarts, a vending unit, a track and a gate assembly attached to the track and coupled to the vending unit. Each pushcart includes a lightweight body attached to a rigid frame mounted on wheels. The body is configured to pivot vertically over the frame assembly thereby enabling rigid frames on adjacent pushcarts to be stacked. Attached to each frame assembly is a catch bar assembly that includes a wear plate that extends into an offset, longitudinally aligned slot formed on the track. Attached to the wear plate is an upper roller and a lower roller that travel over the outside surface and the inside surface, respectively, on the track. A gate assembly is dual directional to allow pushcarts to be individually dispensed and returned from the same end of the track thereby enabling the system to be setup in small staging areas.

In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to maintain an inventory of products within a product carrier. The product carrier utilizes a radio frequency (RF) blocking material and a RF reader disposed within an interior of the product carrier to identify products placed therein. The product carrier can further include an indicator on an exterior thereof to provide an indication regarding a status of the products within the product carrier.

According to some embodiments, an improved tugger and rider cart assembly system is presented. The system comprising a tugger cart with a central space to receive a rider cart; the tugger cart having both front side and rear side pluralities of transport wheels approximately parallel to, but not touching, ground; a front side and a rear side loading wheel positioned closer to the ground than the transport wheels; a rider cart having a first wing and a second wing, both wings having a curved portion; and wherein the loading wheels and wing curved portions can be operatively connected to allow a user to move the rider cart onto the tugger cart thereby allowing the tugger cart to transport the rider cart.

A shopping basket includes a body, a storage section, a first sensor as a stack sensor, and a controller. The body is configured to hold a transportation object. The storage section is configured to store information. The first sensor is configured to detect occurrence of a stack state where the body and a detection target are stacked relative to each other. The controller is configured to reset the information stored in the storage section when a reset condition including detection of the occurrence of the stack state by the stack sensor is satisfied.

A system for monitoring and controlling shopping cart usage comprises a wheel assembly that attaches to a shopping cart. In some embodiments the wheel assembly includes a wheel, a brake that can be activated to inhibit rotation of the wheel, a controller that controls the brake, a VLF receiver, and an RF transceiver. The RF transceiver may, for example, operate in a 2.4 GHz frequency band. In some implementations, the RF transceiver may be used to detect entry of the shopping cart into a checkout area of the store, and the VLF receiver may be used to detect that the shopping cart is exiting the store. The controller may activate the brake if the shopping cart attempts to exit the store without first passing through a checkout area.

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.

A shopping cart basket having a handle region located at the front or the sides of the shopping cart basket is disclosed. The forward handle region may have a plurality of openings along the front, corners, and sides to allow a customer to easily grip the shopping cart basket and guide the shopping cart. The shopping cart basket may be formed from a metallic wire portion and a non-metallic forward handle region, or in some embodiments, the shopping cart basket may be formed from a fully formed from a polymer material.

A vehicular mobile storage cart, for a car having a hitch (21, 22), the cart comprising: a hitch gripping mechanism (30), connectable to the car hitch (21, 22); a lifting mechanism (40), connectable to the hitch gripping mechanism (30); and a wheel cart (10), connectable to the lifting mechanism; wherein the lifting mechanism being adapted to diminish its dimensions in a folded state thereof to allow opening a back door of a vehicle thereof when being folded.

A cart includes a chassis configured to carry a basket and a support structure having a carrier coupled to the chassis, a pair of rear legs coupled to the carrier, and a pair of front legs coupled to the carrier, at least one of the pair of front legs and the pair of rear legs having motor driven wheels coupled thereto, at least one carrier actuator configured to move the chassis relative to the carrier, the pair of front legs including actuators which are configured to extend and retract the pair of front legs, and the pair of rear legs including actuators which are configured to extend and retract the pair of rear legs. The cart includes at least one sensor supported on the cart. The cart also includes at least one processing unit configured with software instructions that enable autonomous self-loading of the cart into a vehicle. The processing unit receives signals from the at least one sensor and providing command signals to any of the wheel motors, the at least one carrier actuator, the front leg actuators, and the rear leg actuators.

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.