Mobile battery powered workstation carts for order fulfillment are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a battery powered workstation cart may comprise a wheeled cart having a frame, a rechargeable lithium battery, a computer, a barcode reader/scanner, a RFID reader/scanner, a printer, an artificial intelligence hub, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and/or GPS. The frame may also comprise two side bracket arms and/or shelves, which may be modular to receive various different sized baskets, bins, or totes therein to expedite retail order fulfillment.

A cart includes a frame, a holding portion supported by the frame and in which a product is stored, a lifting unit configured to raise and lower the holding portion, an imaging device directed towards an inside of the holding portion, and a controller. The controller is configured to acquire an image of a product captured by the imaging device, determine whether the product has been continuously imaged by the imaging device over a predetermined time period, and upon determining that the product has been imaged over the predetermined time period, control the lifting unit to lower the holding portion.

A cart POS control board according to an embodiment includes a storing unit and a control unit. The storing unit stores, in association with each other, identification information of a battery that may receive power supply and setting concerning control for the battery. If identification information of the battery acquired by an acquiring unit is stored in the storing unit, the control unit controls the battery according to setting associated with the identification information.

In an example implementation, a smart cart system may include a cart including a frame and an item holder supported by the frame and configured to transition between an open position and a storage position that is more compact than the open position. The smart cart system may include a motivator configured to provide a motive force to the cart, a power source coupled with the motivator, and a charging interface attached to the frame of the cart and that interacts with a cart charging system of a cart storage rack to charge the power source. The smart cart system may also include a user interface device, a computing device, and a smart cart controller operable on the computing device to receive information describing an attribute of an item and provide information describing the attribute of the item for presentation by the user interface device.

Disclosed is a charging connector for a trolley having a power storage module, including a body carrying a circuit and a first electrode plate and a second electrode plate provided at two ends of the body respectively, the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate being electrically connected through the circuit and the first electrode plate or the second electrode plate having an elastic arch portion with a variable arch height. The charging connector can keep the elastic contact between the second electrode of a front charging connector and the first electrode of a rear charging connector during front-back series connection, eliminating the defect that the current charging connector has bad contact. The trolley with the connector can be charged reliably and the power energy can be used to a peripheral device onboard the trolley. Such a multimedia trolley does not need repeated manual checking.

A method or a system, automatically and electronically ensures that customer pays for all goods picked up and the customer takes out of the shop only goods paid for. All this is done without the need of a shop teller and finally without the need of a shop supervisor to periodically crosscheck and ensure that the total amount of money collected by the shop teller (within a period) equals the total value of goods disbursed. The resultant of this system are the shop runs can run a totally cashless shop; reduce human resource by a significant percentage; shop can be opened 24/7; no more queues at shop teller points even during peak periods or major sales.

A power generation system for wheeled objects comprises a generator mechanically coupled to one or more of the object's wheels to convert wheel rotational energy into electrical energy. The power generation system may comprise an electrical storage device configured to store the electrical power produced by the generator. Power from the generator and/or the electrical storage device can be used to provide power to other electrical systems in or on the object. In certain embodiments, the electrical storage device comprises a bank of high-capacity capacitors connected in series. Some embodiments use a control circuit, for example, to regulate the charging and discharging of the capacitor bank and to provide suitable voltages for other systems. The power generation system may be disposed within an object's wheel, such as a wheel of a shopping cart.

Various embodiments herein relate to powered pusher devices configured to push wheeled objects from one location to another. Further embodiments relate to wheeled objects such as carts for transporting items from one location to another. Other embodiments relate to platform powered pushers that can be coupled to a family of various wheeled objects.

A handcart includes a cart frame, a caster, and a code reader. The cart frame includes a receiving portion on which a shopping basket is placeable and a lateral portion extending in a width direction of the cart frame. The caster is disposed at a bottom region of the cart frame. The code reader is attached to the lateral portion of the cart frame so as to be rotatable around the lateral portion. The code reader may be rotated around the lateral portion of the cart frame to a first position at which a reading window of the code reader faces an inner space of the shopping basket on the receiving portion of the cart frame, and to a second position at which the reading window of the code reader faces a front of the cart frame.

A media enhanced shopping cart system comprises a shopping cart, a locationing component, and a display component for displaying at least one advertisement for a product based on the location of the shopping cart within the store, wherein the locationing component is further operable to determine a location of the product within the store relative to the shopping cart, and wherein the display component is further operable to display an indication of the location of the advertised product relative to the location of the shopping cart.