A Simple Solution to Locate Groups of Items in Large Retail Stores Using an RFID Robot

Abstract

This article presents a simple solution to estimate the location of products in a retail store, using an autonomous ground robot with a radio frequency identification payload. The model used and explained in this article is designed to be as simple and versatile as possible, while achieving accurate location estimations when compared with other proposed models in the state of the art. In addition, the solution developed meets the business requirements of the retail industry, such as locating at stock keeping unit level, as opposed to item level, or expressing the location in terms of store fixtures (e.g., shelf and rack) as opposed to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(x,y)$</tex-math></inline-formula> coordinates. The research results are obtained from experiments of the model in different environments, achieving accurate location estimations in a controlled laboratory environment. Moreover, for the first time, the model has been tested in a large retail store, where the results obtained met the requirements of the store owners.