Creating seamless self-checkout areas in supermarkets using automatic customer exit control

Abstract

This thesis is result of an assignment set up by Pan Oston. Pan Oston is a company who makes steel product like checkouts and kiosks for the retail market. A sizable part of Pan Oston’s revenue are checkouts and self-checkouts (SCOs). It is expected that in the future of retail these products are less relevant. This is why Pan Oston has requested the design of an improved gate that will be used in self-checkout areas and in future checkoutless stores. It is also requested to design a system that replaces the currently often used barcode scanner that automatically lets people pass the gate or block them.

A gate is designed that improves upon existing gates in terms of communication, seamlessness and ease-of-use. The goal of this gate is to make it easy and pleasant for customers to leave the SCO area while supporting the SCO host by giving him/her more control. By using animated green, orange and red lights that are intuitively integrated in the gate, communication between customer and gate is optimized. Sounds are played in case of a warning or an alarm. This gives customers extra hints on what is going on but most importantly alerts the host and other store personnel of the gate’s current situation so that they are always aware even if they are not looking. The gate can be customized if needed, which is one of Pan Oston specialties. In summary the gate improves upon its competing gates in communication, looks, focus on the host and theft-prevention.

For the auto-passthrough system Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is used. By attaching BLE signal emitter to the baskets and carts and by placing BLE signal receivers at the SCOs and gate we can keep track of who has paid and who has not and let them leave or block them accordingly. BLE is used because the system will be applied in existing and future supermarkets that use SCO areas. These are supermarkets people are often dependent on so we cannot use biometric technology like face recognition, even though these technologies are incredibly powerful. Because not all customers will like being a part of these technologies, they cannot be applied in these stores. The flip side is that it is now mandatory to use a basket or cart and no more than 1 basket or cart is allowed per group that shops together.