Last semester in CMGT 500, for discussions about teams and organizational culture, we viewed a clip about the process of collaboration and innovation that IDEO, a Silicon Valley design firm, undertakes on every project. The video below shows that process with a project of improvement/redesign of the modern-day shopping cart. (View the last three minutes to see their final iteration of the shopping cart of the future.)
It looks as if someone has taken IDEO’s idea to develop the next, improved butler-cum-shopping cart for consumers, with a bit of a mind-reader embedded in there as well. The Smarter Cart is a new design, courtesy of Chaotic Moon Labs (seriously, that is the name of their company. You think that is interesting, check out their ‘Apply Now’ page)One way to get shopping going is to text the Windows tablet, which identifies you and your needs for that meal, cleaning frenzy or Olympics summer party. The cart utilizes Microsoft’s Kinect motion-sensor capabilities to track and follow you, directing you toward your shopping items list, even warning you if a particular sour-cream and cheese potato chip selection is a dietary no-no (what is programming code for “OVERRIDE”?).
Send it a text and let it take you shopping
The Good News: The products get scanned when they get into the cart and the purchases get finalized and the transaction completes itself in the cart, allowing you to avoid the checkout area completely. So more time to shop, less hassle.
The Bad News: It won’t be ready for another couple of years, according to the New York Times Magazine (2012).
But the idea opens up opportunities for the partially disabled, busy parents and others to shop with just enough assistance to get this item done and crossed off.
What might open up as well would be data mining/collection opportunities and marketers to insert their sales pitches, coupons, ala Target (Duhigg, 2012). That’s when things could get a little complicated… or lucrative.
What do you think?
ABC News. (2009). IDEO Shopping Cart. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M66ZU2PCIcM
Chaotic Moon Labs. (n.d.). The Smarter Cart. Retrieved from http://www.chaoticmoon.com/labs/chaotic-moon-labs-smarter-cart%E2%84%A2/
Duhigg, C. (2012) How companies learn your secrets.New York Times. (Feb 19)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html
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