A Smart Supermarket must be for All: a Case Study Including the Visually Impaired

Abstract

Shopping in the supermarket is a necessity in modern life. This task, however, can be a challenge for people with disabilities, making them dependent on relatives or supermarket employees to aid them. In this paper, we investigate the subject by proposing and experimenting a system that takes advantage of current ubiquitous computing to support all customers in finding and selecting products in a supermarket. Based on the Internet of Things (IoT), this system is embedded in a mobile platform. A case study conducted with users -- including visually impaired ones -- is reported and discussed. The results are compared with previous experiments conducted with users without disabilities, revealing the impact the system has in terms of efficiency, and feelings of satisfaction, control and motivation.