The proposed system is an automated shopping cart which leads the user throughout the supermarket in search of products specified by the user. The whole framework has been designed using the ROS(Robot Operating System) Platform which is one of the most preferred platforms for robotic applications. We use a variety of packages provided by ROS like gmapping, AMCL,move_base and rplidar so as to solve the problem of SLAM(Simultaneous Localization and Mapping). The system uses sensors like LiDAR(Light Detection And Ranging), IMU(Inertial Measurement Unit) and rotary encoders. LiDAR is used for obstacle detection whereas IMU and rotary encoders give the position and orientation of the cart. A mobile application has also been designed using Android Studio to simplify the user interface for the navigation of the cart. Once the app connects to the cart via Bluetooth, it provides the user provisions of controlling the cart in three different modes. The system is installed with an effective billing system that uses an RFID scanner to automatically bill the amount of the purchased products. The app provides the feature of electronic payment which contributes to faster checkouts. The entire system has been first tested in a simulation software called Gazebo which offers the conditions equivalent to a real-time environment to ensure the accuracy and precision of the packages, codes and the robot model. A prototype of the cart was created and tested in real time environments. Experiments like aisle entry test, constraints test and the comparison between simulation and real time navigation path were done to observe the performance of the cart. The cart ensured obstacle avoidance motion while navigating from source to destination. The experiments illustrate positive results which gives an indication that the cart can improve the overall shopping experience of the user.
