The Beaver Cart Conveyor

The objective of this design challenge was to work as a team to provide a solution for a problem relating to grocery store stakeholders. The first step in this challenge was to define a problem through research, interviews, and an empathy map. Once the team had put themselves in the shoes of the stakeholders, it was clear that there were a few problem areas that stood out. The team decided that it would be most beneficial to tackle the problems of inefficient grocery store checkout and outdated technology. From this decision, each member of the team created fifteen sketches of ideas that could possibly solve these issues at hand. Eventually, only four sketch ideas moved on after peer review and screening within the team. These prototypes included a new store layout, improved checkout, super bonus card, and smart cart. Next, it was crucial for the team to consider the importance of each stakeholder need. After some discussion, reliability took the highest priority in terms of stakeholder needs, followed by user-friendliness and time efficiency. Safety and cost efficiency were also considered, but the design poses no risk to safety and cost would only be a limitation. Benchmarking was also a vital part of the process, as the team analyzed competitor products to further understand the stakeholder needs. Before creating the first beta prototypes, the team used SCAMPER to inspire new combinations of ideas. With the beta prototypes, the team worked to make one storyboard of the user experience, two virtual prototypes, and one physical prototype. User interviews were then conducted once more to receive feedback on each prototype idea. The team used this feedback to gain a new perspective on their ideas and further improve them. The final system being presented is known as the Beaver Cart Conveyor. The design functions with multiple systems working together to streamline the shopping process. For example, the system offers an autonomous smart cart that has the ability to scan a customer’s shopping list and take a custom route that yields maximum efficiency. On top of this, the smart cart offers unique features, such as a scale and a built-in scanner. The layout of the store will also change to offer registers on each side of the store, rather than just in the front. The final piece to this design is the cart conveyor at checkout lanes. The conveyor will have the ability to move shopping carts directly to the cashier so that there is no need for removing items. The evaluations have shown positive results, which has our team confident with the implementation of the Beaver Cart Conveyor.