IoT based Human Guided Smart Shopping Cart System for Shopping Cente

Abstract

Nowadays, supermarkets are almost developed with much technological advancement. People purchase different items
from the supermarkets and put them into a trolley because it is the easiest method used in supermarkets to carry goods.
However, throughout the whole process of shopping, customer must push the trolley manually by their own effort and
when it comes to the billing process customers must wait in long queues to pay their bills. This is a time wasting process
due to the busy schedule of people. To avoid these problems the research groups have introduced an effective and highly
advance system. To swamp these problems, Shopping malls use this technique as a strategy to increase the number of
purchasers. In big cities, we can observe an enormous flash at shopping malls on weekends. This becomes even more
when there is diversity of offers and discount. The prevailing billing system is a bit time consuming. So, we thought of
inventing a remedial electronic product to catch-up with this problem. We call it “Human Guided Smart Cart for billing
system”.

Full text

© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 278
Saudi Journal of Engineering and Technology
Abbreviated Key Title: Saudi J Eng Technol
ISSN 2415-6272 (Print) |ISSN 2415-6264 (Online)
Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Journal homepage: https://saudijournals.com/sjeat
Review Article
IoT based Human Guided Smart Shopping Cart System for Shopping
Center
Shivika Srivastava1, Shivansh Rai1, Shashi Kumar1, Shippu Bhuhsan1, Devasis Pradhan2*
1Final Year UG Students, Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, Acharya Institute of Technology, Dr. Sarvepalli Radha Krishnan
Road, Bengaluru -560107, India
2Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, Acharya Institute of Technology, Dr. Sarvepalli Radha Krishnan Road,
Bengaluru -560107, India
DOI: 10.36348/sjet.2020.v05i06.004 | Received: 18.06.2020 | Accepted: 25.06.2020 | Published: 28.06.2020
*Corresponding author: Devasis Pradhan
Abstract
Nowadays, supermarkets are almost developed with much technological advancement. People purchase different items
from the supermarkets and put them into a trolley because it is the easiest method used in supermarkets to carry goods.
However, throughout the whole process of shopping, customer must push the trolley manually by their own effort and
when it comes to the billing process customers must wait in long queues to pay their bills. This is a time wasting process
due to the busy schedule of people. To avoid these problems the research groups have introduced an effective and highly
advance system. To swamp these problems, Shopping malls use this technique as a strategy to increase the number of
purchasers. In big cities, we can observe an enormous flash at shopping malls on weekends. This becomes even more
when there is diversity of offers and discount. The prevailing billing system is a bit time consuming. So, we thought of
inventing a remedial electronic product to catch-up with this problem. We call it “Human Guided Smart Cart for billing
system”.
Keywords: Supermarkets, Trolley, Billing; Arduino Card; RFID Tags; Smart Cart, Wireless communication; QR Code.
Copyright @ 2020: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use (NonCommercial, or CC-BY-NC) provided the original author and source
are credited.
INTRODUCTION
Technology is considered to be extremely
important in business because it provides faster and
more efficient methods of getting a job done. The
development of technology has led to so many mind-
blowing discoveries, better facilities, and better
luxuries, but at the same has dramatically changed our
daily lives. Day to day life of an ordinary human being
has become a lot more hectic and people actually do not
have much time to spend for shopping which is an
inevitable thing. That is why people prefer shopping in
the malls so that they can get all the products at the
same place. But what if we can reduce the time spent on
shopping by our new idea [1-3].
Our new idea is “Human Guided Smart Cart”.
The concept is designed into a smaller version of the
automated self-checkout system on a shopping trolley
with a user interface screen which allows customers to
make payment for items scanned and placed in the
trolley before leaving the exit of the store. This is to
release pressure at the tills during peak hours [4, 5].
The Smart Cart comes with all the traditional
services including scanning an item to check for price
and details, also there are other additional features that
will be included in the design such as locating an item
in the store by typing in the item‟s name in the search
field on the user interface screen which will
automatically show the item‟s location in the store. The
Smart Cart is designed for an efficient billing system
and also to reduce time wasted in long queues [6].
The Smart Cart idea is based on the most
popular automated self-checkout system in UK retail
stores. The Smart Cart is designed with security
measures to prevent it being wheeled out from the store,
and payment is done via QR code [7]. This system
mainly use the techniques such as barcodes, QR codes,
NFC technology combined with RFID in the scanner
that detects the bar code and sends the information to
the supermarket database. The application keeps adding
the items and computing the cost and the list is updated
accordingly [8]. Once the payment process is done, data
will be updated in the database and receipt will be
printed, it will reduce the long waiting queue in front of
the counter, thus saving the time of customers for a very

Shivika Srivastava et al., Saudi J Eng Technol, June., 2020; 5(6): 278-284
© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 279
enjoyable shopping experience [9].
LITERATURE SURVEY
An automatic line following trolley, this
trolley is being guided behind the customer with use of
traditional line following techniques. Considering the
functional facts that they developed, the research group
developed an automated trolley which follows the
customer with use of an Arduino mega to ride the
trolley the research group came up with the
methodology sensors to track the path which the
customers walks. Moreover, the developed research
consists of a tablet which is fixed in front of the trolley
to track the goods which the customers purchased and
automatic billing system which is developed with use of
Android operating system. The brief description of
Literature survey is shown in Table-1.
Table-1: Literature Survey
Sl.
No
YEAR
TITLE
AUTHOR
ANALYSIS
1
2016
RFID Based
Wireless
Intelligent Cart
Using ARM7
Suraj. S, Vishal Guruprasad,
Udayagiri R Pranava,
Preetham S Nag
They have explored an automatic identification by using
RFID that helps to benefit the quality of service provided by
the retailers. Besides, ZigBee, IR sensor module will be used
to transfer the billing data to the counter computer to detect a
selected light wavelength in the infrared spectrum.
2
2017
Smart Shopping
Cart
Akshay Kumar, Abhinav
Gupta, S. Balamurugan, S.
Balaji, R Marimuthu
This paper is targeted to reduce the Queue at a billing
counter and uses arduino module and Xbee modules for
testing of the hardware.
3
2017
Smart Trolley
using arduino
and smart phone
Harpreet Singh Bedi*, Nikhil
Goyal, Sunil Kumar And
Avinash Gupta
This paper provided us with future endeavors of the product
and motivation for the same by using RFID im membership
cards of the customers, there by a good security module for
the trolley.
4
2018
Smart Trolley
for a Smart
Shopping
Renjini Jose, Saleh Musallam
Abdullah Al Harthi, Ahmed
Abdullah Awadh Koofan,
Aida Khamis Ahmed Al Raiisi
This paper carried out a survey regarding the difficulties in
traditional shopping system and concluded that if this smart
system is implemented in hypermarkets, it will reduce the
long waiting queue in front of the counter, thus saving the
time of customers for a very enjoyable shopping experience
Proposed System - IoT Based Shopping Cart with
Smart Technology
In this paper, we are going to develop an
interactive smart trolley system by using RFID
modules. This system not only allows the user to use
the real-time spending feedback with the budget
detection system on the trolley but also manage to
interact it with the web application. Basically to ensure
automation of the system, customer will initiate the
process by clicking on a „START BUTTON‟ and
followed by scanning the product.
A scanner is connected to the base station
located at the payment counter. When a customer scans
a product, all the information such as and name of the
product is displayed while the weight of the product is
stored in the database. It uses NFC technology
combined with RFID in the scanner that detects the bar
code and sends the information to the supermarket
database. The application keeps adding the items and
computing the cost and the list is updated accordingly.
There is an option for a customer to remove the product
again by rescanning it.
A load cell, which is basically a load sensor, is
located on the trolley helps in decision making against
abnormal activities and discrepancy. Smart Trolley
ensures security measures by considering special cases
and giving its solutions.
These cases are mentioned below:
 A customer forgets to keep a product into the
trolley after scanning it.
 A customer scans one product but places
multiple products in the trolley.
 A customer attempts to take away products in
the trolley without scanning them.
 A load cell, which is basically a weight sensor,
is located at the bottom of the Smart Trolley.
The output of the load cell helps in decision
making against abnormal activities. For example, if the
weight of the product measured by the load cell is not
matching with the actual weight of the product then it is
referred to as a case of discrepancy at the base station.
The proposed system block diagram is shown in Figure-
1.

Shivika Srivastava et al., Saudi J Eng Technol, June., 2020; 5(6): 278-284
© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 280
Fig-1: Proposed System Block Diagram
Research Gap
Most developed trolleys are developed using
traditional line following methodology. Since this some
supermarkets have no way to use this technology it‟s
difficult to use the line following technique in the whole
supermarket. Furthermore, tracking the purchased
goods in the trolley and billing system with help of
android mobile device fixed to the trolley. Most of the
researchers are developed to track the purchased goods
but few trolleys perform both aspects goods tracking
and automatic billing.
Challenges in the Present System
There still exists a smart trolley system in
which the user has to go through the shopping process
through it, but the major problem with it is, it is not
fully automated.
Major challenges in the present system is:
 The trolley is not fully automated.
 Auto billing system is not there in the existing
system.
 The item removed from the cart is not
automatically removed from the bill.
 Does not give the information about the
product validity.
 Interface is not user friendly.
 Payment option is not provided.
 Security
Since the cart is not fully automated,
customers need to manually remove all the products
which they don‟t want. The Bill amount is not
generated in the system with proper details of the
product. Interface used in the existing system is not user
friendly. Not everyone can easily deal with the
embedded system until it's displayed properly. Payment
option is not there in the existing system, users cannot
pay through their phone itself and thus the existing
system is of no use because at the end we need to go for
a queue and pay the amount, which weakens the
system.
Advantage of Proposed System over the Existing
System The major challenges of the existing system
are resolved in the proposed system, and the major
advantages are listed below:
 Cart is fully automated.
 Auto billing system is there in the proposed
system.
 The item removed from the cart is
automatically removed from the bill with the
use of image recognition and weight sensors.
 Information about the product validity and
other features are included in the proposed
system.
 Interface is user friendly
 Payment option is provided, different
platforms like upi, card, or else through online
platforms like paytm, mobikwik e.t.c.
 Tracing of the cart can be done, using GPS
 Security of the cart is monitored.
Proposed System Modules
Basic Module
Basically to ensure automation of the system,
the customer will initiate the process by clicking on a
„START BUTTON‟ and followed by scanning the
product. A scanner is connected to the base station

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© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 281
located at the payment counter. When a customer scans
a product, all the information such as and name of the
product is displayed while the weight of the product is
stored in the database. It uses NFC technology
combined with RFID in the scanner that detects the bar
code and sends the information to the supermarket
database.
The application keeps adding the items and
computing the cost and the list is updated accordingly.
There is an option for a customer to remove the product
again by rescanning it. A load cell, which is basically a
load sensor is located on the trolley helps in decision
making against abnormal activities and discrepancy. At
the counter, cashier enters the customer order id to
check the order details and payment details. Cashier
then enter payment amount and fill all the required
information and then proceed for payment. Once the
payment process is done, data will be updated in
database and receipt will be printed, it will reduce the
long waiting queue in front of the counter, thus saving
the time of customers for a very enjoyable shopping
experience.
Security Module
Beside many other functions, Smart Trolley
ensures security measures by considering special cases
and giving its solutions.
These cases are mentioned below:
 A customer forgets to keep a product into the
trolley after scanning it.
 A customer scans one product but places
multiple products in the trolley.
 A customer attempts to take away products in
the trolley without scanning them.
 A customer changes their mind and removes
the product from the trolley.
 A customer scans a cheaper product and places
the expensive product having the same weight.
The design of the product carefully considers
all these cases, which are mentioned above. Basically to
ensure automation of the system, the scanner is
connected to the base station located at the payment
counter. When a customer scans a product information
such as price and name of the product is displayed
while the weight of the product is also stored in the
database against all barcodes. Weight of products is an
important factor to double check the identity of a
product to protect against discrepancy or dishonest
activity [10]. A load cell, which is basically a weight
sensor, is located at the bottom of the Smart Trolley.
The output of the load cell helps in decision making
against abnormal activities. For example, if the weight
of the product measured by the load cell is not matching
with the actual weight of the product then it is referred
to as a case of discrepancy at the base station [11].
Payment Methods and Receipt Generation
Payment method allows users to complete their
purchases from the Smart Trolley. The present payment
system on the tills and self-service checkout as well as
cash payment .The self-checkout can be enabled by UPI
payments. The user gives his UPI details and a dynamic
QR code will be generated for his amount and then he
can pay using any UPI application. For cash payments,
the bill is already generated and is sent to the store's
database, and then retrieved by the cashier using cart id
and the respective amount can be collected from the
customer [12, 13].
Experimental Setup
In the Proposed system each product is
attached with the RFID Tag and when an RFID reader
reads the RFID Tag the information is transmitted to the
Microcontroller and it connect local server data base.
The RFID tag number is compared with the existing
data base if the information is available the product data
is retrieved from the data base and transmits the details
of the product on the LCD screen. This process is
repeated till the end of the shopping. After the customer
finishes the shopping he use to press the completion of
shopping button which is incorporated in the Smart Cart
then the total number of products he had placed in the
cart and amount of final shopping list will be displayed
in the screen. The total list of the Smart Cart with the
unique code transmitted to the main PC with help of
Wi-Fi module which is placed in the SC [14, 15].
Hardware Requirements
 ATmega 328P Microcontroller: 8 bit
microcontroller based on AVR RISC
architecture.
 EM-18 RFID module: Low frequency RFID
reader.
 RFID cards: RFID cards are helpful for
identifying and sensing labeled people and
items for access control, automation, and also
a complete assortment of various applications.
 LCD: Data to be displayed on the LCD.
 Resistors: The resistor is a passive electrical
component to create resistance in the flow of
electric current.
 Capacitors: The capacitor is a component
which has the ability or “capacity” to store
energy in the form of an electrical charge
producing a potential difference (Static
Voltage) across its plates, much like a small
rechargeable battery.
 Push Button: A push-button (also spelled
pushbutton) or simply button is a simple
switch mechanism for controlling some aspect
of a machine or a process.
 Crystal Oscillator: A crystal oscillator is an
electronic oscillator circuit that uses the

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© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 282
mechanical resonance of a vibrating crystal of
piezoelectric material to create an electrical
signal with a precise frequency. This frequency
is often used to keep track of time.
 Diodes: A diode is a two-terminal electronic
component that conducts current primarily in
one direction (asymmetric conductance); it has
low (ideally zero) resistance in one direction,
and high (ideally infinite) resistance in the
other.
 PCB: A printed circuit board (PCB)
mechanically supports and electrically
connects electronic components or electrical
components using conductive tracks, pads and
other features etched from one or more sheet
layers of copper laminated onto and/or
between sheet layers of a non-conductive
substrate. Components are generally soldered
onto the PCB to both electrically connect and
mechanically fasten them to it.
 LED’s: A light-emitting diode (LED) is a
semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as
indicator lamps in many devices, and are
increasingly used for lighting.
 Transformer/Adapter: A transformer is a
static electrical device that transfers electrical
energy between two or more circuits.
 AC adapter, AC/DC adapter, or AC/DC
converter is a type of external power supply,
often enclosed in a case similar to an AC plug.
Software Requirements
 Arduino IDE written in java is used to upload
programs on the arduino board.
 Easy to Program and Use and Efficiency in
embedded development and embedded learning.
 The Arduino IDE supports the languages C and
C++.
 The executable code is then loaded on the board by
a loader program in the board's firmware.
Flow chart for the Proposed System
Flow chart of whole proposed system
Fig-2(a): Flowchart for Customer or User
Fig-2(b): Flowchart for Cashier

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© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 283
Fig-3: Circuit diagram for the developed system
Algorithm
Step1:-Take a trolley.
Step2:-Start placing the items u want.
Step3:-The items placed in the trolley scanned
automatically.
Step4:-The scanned items will now display on the
lcd. Step5:-If item is not in the store it will display
Step 6:-Place all the items you want.
Step 7:-Click proceed, Bill generated
Step 8:-You will be redirected to the payment page
Step 9:-Choose the payment option and pay.
Step 10:-End shopping
CONCLUSION
This paper discusses the easiness of using a
smart trolley and eradicating the traditional way of
shopping. If this smart system is implemented in
hypermarkets, it will reduce the long waiting queue in
front of the counter, thus saving the time of customers
for a very enjoyable shopping experience. It reduces
time by using RFID Technology and improves
utilization of resources like manpower. The location of
the shopping trolley and items, can be tracked easily by
using the RFID technology localization scheme and
Android application. Both communicate via the
Bluetooth function. A weight sensor is placed at the
bottom of the trolley to provide security and
transparency. In the payment module, the customers get
several options like UPI payment, cash or card.
There is some room for further improvement
of the project. Firstly, the mechanism of the robot
should be enhanced and designed in a simpler way, to
ease the installation under a shopping trolley. Secondly,
a more advanced algorithm should be developed so that
the shopping trolley is able to move in a crowded
environment and follows the user automatically in any
direction. Lastly, an improved Android application that
can remind the users of the items they need to purchase
when they are unintentionally passing by the goods
location. In addition, it can also remind the users who
have health problems about the nutrition of products.
Besides that, the locations of shopping trolleys are
tracked and can be displayed to allow supermarket staff
and users to know the shopping trolley current
locations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Firstly, we highly indebted to the Department
of Electronics & Communication Engineering for
giving us the opportunity to complete this research
work. We sincerely express our sincere gratitude and
deepest appreciation to Dr. Rajeswari, Professor, HoD
of ECE and Principal of Acharya Institute of
Technology, Bangalore, Karnataka, for guiding and

Shivika Srivastava et al., Saudi J Eng Technol, June., 2020; 5(6): 278-284
© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 284
encouraging us to develop and simulate the control
designs essential for this work and support. We would
like thank to Mr. Devasis Pradhan, Assistant Professor,
Dept. of ECE, for guiding us throughout the course of
our project through which the project work come into a
streamline work and we also thankful to our beloved
parents for their trust on us and their believe.
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