Many of the articles I chose for the focus section revolved around shopping and the pandemic. A lot expressed new opportunities and also a desire to still incorporate the shopping experience into our new way of shopping while also allowing for safety. The solution I came up with is a personal “bubble” that you can enter that allows you to move throughout the store not fearing your proximity to others, as well as being able to limit the amount of people entering the store at one time. By having it a “shield” around yourself so you don’t have to worry about people encroaching in your space or coughing in your face unexpectedly. The “Personal Bubble” could either be designed with sensors that roll when it senses the person’s leg near the edge or could feature a manual design where the person could hang groceries on it and roll it themselves.
The flaws to this design though are that it is clunky and needs to be manned for cleanliness and may not work as well if groups of people are shopping together (I.e.) families with children, couples, etc. If there is debris on the ground it would be shuffled about. It would also not be easily integrated into smaller stores that already lack isle space. And may be difficult for a person to maneuver themselves.
