Critical Reflection

At the start of the module, my goal was to improve my communication and presentation skills. This module has provided me with several opportunities to improve on my report writing skills. Simple report writing skills such as learning how to write a formal report, paraphrasing, annotated summary and proper citations were covered in class. Even though the above may sound basic, but I believe these are essential skills that will benefit me in the long run, especially when it comes to projects and in the workforce. Apart from report writing skills, I have also picked up numerous presentation skill. Before receiving feedback on my presentation, I would not have noticed the smallest details of such as fidgeting, adopting a proper posture while presenting and maintaining eye contact. Thankfully, I have Professor Blackstone and my classmates to provide constructive feedback for every assignment and presentation. The feedback received will not only allow self-improvement, but it also gives my classmates an opportunity to improve their communication skills through the feedback session. Even with the guidance and feedback received, I believe there are still area for improvement as learning is a never-ending process. Reading the news daily is something I have picked up to improve on my phrasing and writing skills.

This module exposed me to course mates which I have never interacted with. Grouping with three soft-spoken teammates made me realise I had to step out of my comfort zone to take charge of the team. Being the leader, I had to ensure my group was in sync and were clear on their individual task for the assignment. The introverted behaviours displayed made me realised that the greatest challenge we have to overcome will be the presentation. By initiating more meetups, we have more practice and rehearsal to familiarise with the content. This helps them build their confidence when delivering the content That aside, there were moments of joy throughout the whole project learning process and it made me realised that every individual has their own unique traits and weaknesses. A team of different individuals brings different inputs to the project and allow us to help cover up for each other weaknesses. As a leader, it is important for me to know each of their strength and weaknesses for me to distribute the task accordingly to ensure maximum efficiency for the desired outcome.

In conclusion, my initial goal of improving my writing and presentation skills were met. This will not be the end of my learning journey as there are still room for improvements.

Annotated Summary

Bedi HS, Goyal N, Kumar S, Gupta A (2017). Smart Trolley using Smart Phone and Arduino. J Electr Electron Syst, 6: 223. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4172/2332-0796.1000223

This article introduces the integration of a trolley with a smart phone and Arduino to increase the shopping efficiency for customers who patrons the supermarket. The article also discusses the benefits it brings to the different stakeholders of the smart trolley. The system utilises the user’s smartphone to scan for items, where the name and cost of the item will be reflected on a liquid-crystal display (LCD). A radio-frequency identification system is implemented to detect for membership. By tagging an RFID tag on the membership card and placing a RFID scanner on the trolley, members will be detected when they are nearby. After shopping, the customer can transfer the bill to the checkout computer. However, the smart features are exclusive for members only. Patrons without the membership card are limited to a normal trolley without the smart features. The article also mentions the platform they make use of to run the software of the system and explain the procedure of the program. Furthermore, creating a barcode to scan is more economical and efficient as compared to RFID tags.

This article provides useful insights for our research project on improving shopping efficiency with a smart trolley. Like our research project, this article has the same purpose of enhancing patrons shopping experience. By integrating a trolley with an RFID system, they are able to improve the shopping efficiency of shoppers. While the article mentions the use of barcode scanning as their main approach to promote efficient shopping, it still provides us with useful information such as the smart checkout and exclusive membership system that we can apply to One-Stop.

Technical Report Draft 1

Background

Grocery shopping is an important aspect of peoples' lives all around the world. Supermarkets are packed with patrons every day, looking to purchase their household goods. One of the supermarket chains in Singapore, NTUC FairPrice, states on their website that it serves 600,000 customers per day (NTUC FairPrice, n.d.). This is the number of patrons visiting this supermarket chain alone, not to mention there are several other supermarket chains such as Cold Storage, Giant and Sheng Siong. Thus, it is not surprising that the checkout queues in supermarkets are long.

Looking at an extreme case, for example, the recent Coronavirus outbreak has caused Singaporeans to overreact and thus cause an influx of customers to do their shopping (Tan, 2020). The surge of patrons and the fact that they are purchasing goods in bulk effectively creates a standstill in queues, extending customer wait times immensely.

When customers shop for groceries in bulk, they tend to opt for trolleys provided by the supermarket instead of handheld baskets, to hold more merchandise prior to check out. These trolleys are found in all supermarkets with premises large enough to accommodate their use. Trolleys are made out of a combination of metal and plastic parts. A shopping trolley is essentially a large basket on four wheels.

There are aspects of the primitive shopping trolley that is open for improvement, especially due to the advancements in technology in the past few decades. Integration of innovations such as a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system and implementation of a membership system would make the grocery shopping experience more efficient, including a reduction in queue times.

Problem Statement

Given the current technological advancement that is available, the current supermarket trolley lacks these technologies and has been the same for the past decade. The lack of technology in the trolleys prevents efficient shopping by the users which usually ends up with long queues at the counter. An RFID system with a smart trolley should be implemented to address this issue.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this analysis is to suggest a new trolley innovation by installing an RFID device at the trolley's rim with an attachable tablet that will be mounted onto the trolley. This improves efficiency for both the customers and the staff members of the store. Thus, reducing the time spent queueing for checkout.

Proposed Idea

The existing trolley design consists of a four-wheeled basket. Through encouraging loyalty to retail customers, they can enjoy the benefits of using the recently innovated trolley for a better shopping experience. The new smart trolley integrates an RFID scanner with a tablet to track the expenditures of the customers. Customers are able to perform self-checkout without needing to go through the long waiting time at the manual checkout counter. This also allows customers to have a seamless grocery shopping experience while reducing the number of customers in line at the checkout.

RFID Scanner and Detachable Tablet

One key enhancement to the current supermarket trolley will be the addition of an RFID scanner to the trolley. RFID is one of the technologies companies around the world are trying to introduce to the market.

According to Kaur, Sandhu, Mohan and Sandhu (2011), there are many applications for RFID such as tracking of assets, easing the payment system and improving the security system. The addition of the RFID provides a smart system for all the items in the store. For every item the shopper takes and puts in the trolley, the RFID scanner will track the item and reflect the cost of the item on the mounted tablet. The tablet will keep track of the total expenditures of the customer and display the total bill of all the items for the customer. Customers can utilise the tablet to check the availability and location of the item they need. With the RFID scanning and search function, customers are able to shop more efficiently, spending less time in the supermarket.

The tablet provides the customer with the freedom to perform a self-checkout function. Baker (2017) states that customers save up to 15 minutes of their time when they use the self-checkout kiosk. However, the current self-checkout kiosk available at the supermarkets only allows small amounts of purchases. Customers with more than a basket size of groceries will still need to go through the counter for checkout. With the RFID function tracking all the items and the tablet to display the cost, customers will be able to perform the self-checkout function with the trolley. Similar to the current self-checkout kiosk, customers will proceed to the self-checkout kiosk for trolleys, reducing the queues at the manual counter.

According to Bedi (n.d.), the total bill of the customer displayed on the tablet can be transferred to the computer screen with a press of a button. With the ability to perform the self-checkout function with a trolley, customers will not have to go through the process of queueing at the manual counter with the other trolleys. Instead, they are able to shop efficiently with the tablet and the RFID scanner and perform the self-checkout function by themselves with minimal assistance. This will greatly reduce the amount of time spent in the supermarket, thus reducing the number of people queueing in line for checkout.

Membership System

Another key addition that can be improved is to introduce a membership system. The main advantage of the membership system will be the ability to loan the smart tablet from a counter, which is only available for members. Members can then be attached to the trolley, allowing the features of the smart trolley to be utilized.

Introducing a membership system will result in better customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. According to Chong (2019), membership systems are regarded as one of the most familiar and competent methods to allow a company to achieve high rates of customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is described by how a customer purchases products and services over the years from the same company. With the benefits of the smart trolley and the advantages a member gets, it encourages the customers to apply for membership, which will help them shop more efficiently. Having more membership and customer loyalty increases the revenue of the company in the long run.

Benefits

The amount of time shoppers spend in the supermarket, shopping and queueing for checkout will be greatly reduced with the integration of technologies with the current supermarket trolley.

Enhancing User Experience

Integrating technology with the current supermarket trolley allows users to shop more efficiently with minimal help from the supermarket staff. This gives the supermarket the freedom to allocate more manpower to attend stations which require more staff. With the right allocation of manpower, the long queues at the counter can be reduced due to the efficiency the smart trolley provides.

Customer Loyalty

Having a good membership will attract customers to purchase from the same companies due to reputable trust and benefits. Most customers will go back to the same supermarket to shop for the necessity if it is convenient and worthwhile. With the benefits of the membership system, customers will be enticed to utilise the functionality of the trolley when they shop at their preferred supermarket, improving their shopping experience.

Product Tracking

The integration of RFID within the supermarket will allow a better product tracking experience for the staff working in the supermarket. They can use the RFID technology to track the amount of product that is in stock with minimal effort as stocktaking will be done by the system. At the same time, when products on the shelves require replenishing, the management can be notified.

Evaluation

The two proposed designs have their own set of limitations, especially when it comes to security issues.

The integration of an RFID system with a touchscreen tablet increases the value of each individual shopping trolley. It would greatly impact the budget of supermarket chains if these trolleys were to get lost or stolen. In 2015, the Sheng Siong supermarket chain had lost $120,000 worth of shopping trolleys alone and annually spent $150,000 on shopping trolley maintenance and reacquisition of abandoned trolleys according to the article of Heng (2016). Losing a smart trolley would incur huge expenditure to the company liabilities.

However, the integration of the RFID system would include the ability to detect and trigger an alarm if trolleys are being pushed out of the premises with the help of sensors at the supermarket entrances and exits. Also, the tablet does come with a built-in GPS tracker, as do most smart devices nowadays. These technologies would aid in the prevention of theft. Furthermore, with the implementation of the membership system, tablets withdrawn are registered to information of members, which would make it easier to track if they were to get lost or stolen.

As an added bonus of having a tablet integrated into the trolley, supermarkets are able to advertise seasonal sales on particular products or goods, to entice users to spend more in the store. This, on top of a much more efficient shopping experience thanks to the RFID system and hassle-free check out, would greatly boost the revenue of supermarkets.

With the proposed innovations, the team believes that supermarket chains would benefit greatly due to the increased efficiency of shopping and check out and in turn, provide a better customer shopping experience, which would ultimately boost the reputation and revenue of the chain.

Methodology

Primary research such as interviews, surveys and questionnaires will produce conclusive results but will require more time to complete. Secondary research such as reviewing sources was therefore used to collect the relevant information for completion of the study.

Secondary Research

The team started with deductive research by coming up with ideas and suggestions on how the revolutionary trolley will be useful to supermarket consumers. The team did research on the products strengths, weaknesses and other potential changes that can be applied to enhance the product after recognizing the key observation.

The team carried out extensive analysis after agreeing on the proposals for improvement and would be used to check around the space for changes and forms of change needed to fix the problem. Relevant articles such as RFID implementation and self-checkout trolley systems were used to justify the team’s proposed design.

The team decided that doing case study analyses were relevant and useful in gaining detailed accounts from individual psychologically important case studies of articles. Other forms of analysis were not used as it was too time-consuming.

The benefits of doing analyses of case studies provide much detailed information that can be obtained as compared to other research methods. Furthermore, the collected data is usually very comprehensive and in-depth, which can not be recreated practically. In addition, these case studies help to modify theories and create new hypotheses. However, case studies may contribute evidence or data being collected over longitudinal research that may not always be important or particularly useful. This can lead to prejudice in that article's data collection.

Concluding Statement

In conclusion, the integration of an RFID scanning system into the shopping trolley and the implementation of a better membership system would allow customers to shop much more efficiently while having a better shopping experience. With RFID scanners built into the trolley, customers are able to self-checkout much quicker as their total bill has been tracked in real-time, thus reducing queue wait times. The proposed membership system would allow customers to enhance and optimise their shopping experience, by acquiring item information such as in-store location and product availability, through the loaned tablet.

By providing customers with a more efficient shopping experience, the proposed innovations would promote an increase in revenue for the supermarket chains.

Design Summary - Analysis Draft 3

In the article, “Seabin using plastic to fight plastic”, Seabin Project states that microplastics and microfibers threaten marine ecosystems. The threat is so severe that the UN has called for action.

The Seabin Project (2019) uses Seabin technology to remove pollutants such as microplastics and microfibers in the water by placing the Seabin in the water to filter rubbish from the water. The article mentions that an alternative method would be the “Manta trawl”, in which a certain net is hauled behind a boat. The article mentions that both methods are equally “effective in sampling microplastics”. According to the Seabin Project (2019), with some modifications to the filter, monitoring, and sampling of the pollutant contents will be cheaper and more time-efficient compared to standard methods. A catch bag is currently being engineered and tested to capture even smaller particles.

Despite the restriction on the size of the Seabin’s catch bag and limited deployment location, Seabin is a more cost-efficient and effective solution for clearing microplastic compared to The Ocean Cleanup.

The key benefit of Seabin is its potential to capture not only rubbish but also microplastics and microfibers. The Ocean Cleanup (2020) states that 8% of the plastic waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is microplastic. However, this number will increase if the large plastic wastes reduce into microplastic waste. According to KairO (2011), it takes about 450 to 1000 years for a plastic bottle to breakdown into smaller and smaller pieces before it finally decomposes. The other 92% of large plastic waste will eventually degrade into microplastic, which is a great threat to the marine ecosystem. The EnergyCrossRoads (2017) reports that microplastic pollution affects the ecosystem greatly as the marine animals might consume the microplastic debris which will endanger their existence. The main aim of Seabin is to capture these microplastics before it degrades and reaches the ocean.

Another important benefit of Seabin is its efficiency. According to the Seabin Project (2019), Seabin can run continuously for long hours once it is installed in the water as it does not automate, thus not requiring anyone to control it. The only time Seabin requires manpower is when the catch bag is full, and actions are required to empty it. Running continuously not only increases the efficiency of the product, but it also provides more accurate data as Seabin is collecting micro waste throughout the time, thus generating more uniform data. The accuracy of the data generated plays an important role in further improvement of Seabins technology.

Despite Seabin's low cost of operation, efficiency and the ability to capture microplastic, Seabin has its own set of limitations. The Seabin Project (2019) states the maximum capacity of the catch bag is 20kg and must be connected to a power source to extract the water out of the bag. Due to these limitations, Seabin is devised to operate in calm water with the facilities readily available to power it. It is ideal for marinas and ports but not for the ocean, which is where the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located at. Seabin is only able to minimise the amount of waste entering the ocean but is not able to clear the waste that is already in it.

Seabin may not be the best solution to remove plastic from the ocean on a large scale, however, it is more efficient and effective in clearing microplastic and microfibers as compared to standard methods. Using the data gathered from the Seabins, the Seabin technology can advance even more in the future and expand its range of operation to the ocean. Starting from marinas and ports, Seabin will be able to reduce the amount of waste that is in the water.

References:

KairO. (2011). How Long Does It Take A Plastic Bottle To Biodegrade. Retrieved from February 15, 2020, from https://www.postconsumers.com/2011/10/31/how-long-does-it-take-a-plastic-bottle-to-biodegrade/

seabin.com FAQS. (n.d.). Retrieved from February 9, 2020, from https://seabinproject.com/the-seabin-v5/faqs/

theoceancleanup.com FAQS. (n.d.). Retrieved from February 9, 2020, from https://theoceancleanup.com/faq/

Seabin using plastic to fight plastics. (2019). Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://seabinproject.com/seabin-using-plastic-to-fight-plastics/

Tikkanen. (2017). Dangers of Micro-Plastic Pollution. Retrieved February 9, 2020, from http://www.energycrossroads.org/1820-2/

 

 

Design Summary - Analysis Draft 2

In the article, “Seabin using plastic to fight plastic”, Seabin Project states that microplastics and microfibers threaten marine ecosystems. The threat is so severe that the UN has called for action.

The Seabin Project (2019) uses Seabin technology to remove pollutants such as microplastics and microfibers in the water by placing the Seabin in the water to filter rubbish from the water. The article mentions that an alternative method would be the “Manta trawl”, in which a certain net is hauled behind a boat. The article mentions that both methods are equally “effective in sampling microplastics”. According to the Seabin Project (2019), with some modifications to the filter, monitoring, and sampling of the pollutant contents will be cheaper and more time-efficient compared to standard methods. A catch bag is currently being engineered and tested to capture even smaller particles.

Despite the restriction on the size of the Seabin’s catch bag and limited deployment location, Seabin is a more cost-efficient and effective solution for clearing microplastic compared to standard methods.

The key benefit of the Seabin is its potential to capture not only rubbish but also microplastics and microfibers. The Ocean Cleanup (2020) states that 8% of the plastic waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is microplastic. However, this number will increase if the large plastic wastes reduce into microplastic waste. The main aim of Seabin is to capture these microplastics before it splits and reaches the ocean. According to EnergyCrossRoads (2017), microplastic pollution affects the ecosystem greatly as the marine animals might consume the microplastic debris which will endanger their existence. Royte (2018) reported that the microplastic consumed by animals “block digestive tracts, diminish the urge to eat, and alter feeding behaviour all which reduce growth and reproductive output”. This results in the fauna starving to death, affecting the ecosystem.

Another important benefit the Seabin provides is the efficiency it provides. According to the Seabin Project (2019), Seabin can run continuously for long hours once it is installed in the water as it does not automate, thus not requiring anyone to control it. The only time the Seabin requires manpower is when the catch bag is full, and actions are required to empty it. Running continuously not only increases the efficiency of the product, but it also provides more accurate data as the Seabin is collecting micro waste throughout the time, thus generating more uniform data. The accuracy of the data generated plays an important role in further improvement of Seabins technology.

Despite Seabin's low cost of operation, efficiency and the ability to capture microplastic, the Seabins has its own set of limitations. The Seabin Project (2019) states the maximum capacity of the catch bag is 20kg and must be connected to a power source to extract the water out of the bag. Due to these limitations, the Seabin is devised to operate in calm water with the facilities readily available to power it. It is ideal for marinas and ports but not for the ocean, which is where the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located at. Seabin is only able to minimise the amount of waste entering the ocean but is not able to clear the waste that is already in it.

Seabin may not be the best solution to remove plastic from the ocean on a large scale, however, it is more efficient and effective in clearing microplastic and microfibers as compared to standard methods. Using the data gathered from the Seabins, the Seabins technology can advance even more in the future and expand its range of operation to the ocean. Starting from marinas and ports, Seabin will be able to reduce the amount of waste that is in the water.

 

FAQS. (n.d.). Retrieved from February 9, 2020, from https://seabinproject.com/the-seabin-v5/faqs/

FAQS. (n.d.). Retrieved from February 9, 2020, from https://theoceancleanup.com/faq/

Royte. (2018) We know plastic is harming marine life. What about us? Retrieved February 9, 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-health-pollution-waste-microplastics/

Seabin using plastic to fight plastics. (2019). Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://seabinproject.com/seabin-using-plastic-to-fight-plastics/

Tikkanen. (2017). Dangers of Micro-Plastic Pollution. Retrieved February 9, 2020, from http://www.energycrossroads.org/1820-2/

 

Design Summary - Analysis Draft 1

In the article, “Seabin using plastic to fight plastic”, Seabin Project states that microplastics and microfibers threaten marine ecosystems. The threat is so severe that the UN has called for action.

 The Seabin Project (2019) uses Seabin technology to remove pollutants such as microplastics and microfibers in the water by placing the Seabin in the water to filter rubbish from the water. The article mentions that an alternative method would be the “Manta trawl”, in which a certain net is hauled behind a boat. The article mentions that both methods are equally “effective in sampling microplastics”.

According to the Seabin Project (2019), with some modifications to the filter, monitoring and sampling of the pollutant contents will be cheaper and more time efficient compared to standard methods. A catch bag is currently being engineered and tested to capture even smaller particles. Despite Seabin’s size limitation, it can remove microplastics more efficiently compared to standard methods.

The key benefit of the Seabin is its potential to capture not only rubbish but also microplastics and microfibers. The Ocean Cleanup (2020) states that 8% of the plastic waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is microplastic. However, this number will increase if the large plastic wastes reduce into microplastic waste. Seabin aims to capture these microplastics before it splits and reaches the ocean. According to EnergyCrossRoads, microplastic pollution affects the ecosystem greatly as the marine animals might consume the microplastic debris which will endanger their existence. According to Enserink (2017), perch larvae is choosing plastic over their normal diet, which decays their growth, making them an easy target for their predators, disrupting the balance in the ecosystem

Another important benefit the Seabin provides is the efficiency it provides. According to the Seabin Project (2019), Seabin can run continuously for long hours once it is installed in the water as it does not automate and does not require anyone to control it. The only time someone has to check on the Seabin is when the catch bag is full and actions are required to empty it. Running continuously not only increases the efficiency of the product, but it also provides more accurate data as the Seabin is collecting micro waste throughout the time, thus generating more uniform data. The accuracy of the data generated plays an important role in further improvement of Seabin.

Despite Seabins edging in terms of cost, efficiency and the ability to capture microplastic, the Seabins has its own set of limitations. The Seabin Project (2019) states the maximum capacity of the catch bag is 20kg and must be connected to a power source to extract the water out of the bag. Due to these limitations, the Seabin is devised to be placed in calm water with the facilities readily available to power it. It is ideal for Marinas and Ports but not for the ocean, which is where the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is.

The Seabin may not be the best solution to remove plastic from the ocean, however, it is more efficient and effective as compared to standard methods. Starting from Marinas and Ports, the Seabins will be able to clean the waters one step at a time. Also, with the data gathered from the Seabins, the Seabins technology will advance even more in the future and expand its range of operation to the ocean.

References

Seabin using plastic to fight plastics. (2019). Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://seabinproject.com/seabin-using-plastic-to-fight-plastics/

Summary Draft 2

In the article, “Seabin using plastic to fight plastic”, Seabin Project states that microplastics and microfibers threaten marine ecosystems. The threat is so severe that the UN has called for action.

The Seabin Project (2019) uses Seabin technology to remove pollutants such as microplastics and microfibers in the water by placing the Seabin in the water to filter rubbish from the water. The article mentions that an alternative method would be the “Manta trawl”, in which a certain net is hauled behind a boat. The article mentions that both methods are equally “effective in sampling microplastics”.

According to the Seabin Project, with some modifications to the filter, monitoring and sampling of the pollutant contents will be cheaper and more time efficient compared to standard methods. A catch bag is currently being engineered and tested to capture even smaller particles. Despite Seabin’s size limitation, it can remove microplastics more efficiently compared to standard methods.

Seabin using plastic to fight plastics. (2019). Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://seabinproject.com/seabin-using-plastic-to-fight-plastics/