A rail track assembly comprises a rail defining a longitudinal channel configured to slidably receive at least a portion of a monitoring drone. An end cap is configured to be coupled to a first longitudinal end of the rail. A charge cap is configured to be coupled to second longitudinal end of the rail opposite the first longitudinal end, the charge cap configured to house a power module for charging the monitoring drone when the monitoring drone is located at the second longitudinal end.

There is described a point-of-purchase display and method. The display includes one or more sheets. The one or more sheets when unfolded and assembled form the display. The display includes a back wall, a front wall, at least a side wall and a bottom wall. A printed electronic device is affixed to a surface of the one or more sheets. The printed electronic device is selected from the group consisting of: wires, insulators, resistors, capacitors, inductors, transformers, transistors, antennas, OLEDs and sensors. A microcontroller electrically is coupled to the printed electronic device. A connection device is coupled to the printed electronic device. A modular electronic component is coupled to the connection device.

A retail merchandise pusher is configured for sliding along a pusher assembly track. The pusher assembly is mountable to a retail merchandise shelf. The pusher includes a housing, a spring drum rotatably mounted within the housing, and a coil spring mounted to the spring drum. The coil spring is coilable and uncoilable upon rotation of the spring drum. A controller is coupled to a sensor arrangement within the housing. The sensor arrangement has a spring drum sensor for detecting rotation of the spring drum. A direction sensor detects a direction of rotation of the spring drum. An incremental distance sensor detects incremental movement of the pusher. The controller is configured to calculate, based on data from the sensor arrangement, a total distance and direction of travel by the pusher, and to generate an alarm when the pusher travels more than a threshold distance within a predetermined period of time.

A system and method for providing reusable bags is disclosed. The system may include a reusable bag deployment station that allows users to receive the reusable bags and to return the reusable bags. The system may track the usage of the reusable bags.

A shelf system (1) comprises: a frame (5) for forming at least one shelf (70), and a plurality of primary and secondary rails (40, 50). The frame comprises a plurality of mounting portions (20, 30), to each of which at least one of a primary rail (40) and a secondary rail (50) is removably mountable to form lanes of different widths. Each lane includes a primary rail on one side and a secondary rail on the other side for supporting and guiding at least one item (60) in the lane, and the primary rails each comprise at least one sensor (700) for sensing the item (60) in the lane.

Systems and methods are provided to address incorrectly placed items. Some systems comprise: a plurality of motorized transport units that are each configured to perform multiple different tasks at a retail shopping facility; and a central computer system configured to instruct various ones of the plurality of motorized transport units to implement at least one of the multiple different tasks relative to the retail shopping facility, receive and analyze input data detected and provided by the motorized transport units while the motorized transport units perform the at least one of the tasks, and detect and categorize each item of multiple items that are incorrectly placed within the retail shopping facility according to one of multiple different predefined categories.

The present application proposes an apparatus and method for detecting stock-out of articles on a rack and a rack. The apparatus includes: a distance detector configured to detect a distance between the article farthest from a first end and one of the first end and a second end; and a controlling and processing unit communicatively connected to the distance detector and configured to determine whether the articles are out of stock based on the distance.

A sensing system and a sensing method are provided based on weight monitoring. The sensing system includes: a goods database generator that generates a goods database; a weight collector that collects a weight sensing value of the rack in real time; a pick or place status judger that determines whether the weight sensing value of the rack changes or not, where if the weight sensing value of a rack becomes smaller, it determines that there are goods taken away from the rack; and if the weight sensing value of the rack becomes larger, it determines that there are articles placed on the rack; and a goods database updater that stores the weight sensing value in the goods database to update the weight sensing value of the rack in the goods database in real time.

There is described a point-of-purchase display and method. The display includes one or more sheets. The one or more sheets when unfolded and assembled form the display. The display includes a back wall, a front wall, at least a side wall and a bottom wall. A printed electronic device is affixed to a surface of the one or more sheets. The printed electronic device is selected from the group consisting of: wires, insulators, resistors, capacitors, inductors, transformers, transistors, antennas, OLEDs and sensors. A microcontroller electrically is coupled to the printed electronic device. A connection device is coupled to the printed electronic device. A modular electronic component is coupled to the connection device.

Described is an RFID-enabled medical item storage, organization, and/or tracking device, such as a cabinet or shelf, that includes a limited-range wireless network communication capability, such as low-energy Bluetooth or Zigbee, to communicate with nearby cabinets, shelves or mobile devices, any of which may serve as a communication aggregator to coordinate the communication of multiple cabinets, shelves and other devices with an inventory management system or other back-end computer system or other device via back haul wireless or wired networks (e.g., the Internet).