The new synergies of shopping

Shopping: can robot assistants woo shoppers back to the post-pandemic high street? A cashless society – the term resonates more than ever as people grow more reliant on contactless payments and online transactions. But is that a green light for fraudsters and, if so, could a biometric credit card be around the corner? However we go about paying for it, buying more online means more returns. One EU funded project is doing great work to make the process greener and less expensive for retailers and consumers. Frank Sandeloev, CEO of CardLab Innovation, has extensive experience in the development of electronic biometric systems. He’s particularly interested in cybersecurity, fraud prevention and their intersection with privacy. Will a credit card that reads your thumbprint and creates a one-time only token when you use it be in your wallet anytime soon? Between sizes and feeling guilty about all those jeans you’ve bought online and returned? Daphne Pijnappel might make you feel better – she’s working on finding an efficient way to put returned goods back on the market. Online shopping is what we are becoming accustomed to, but what about the future of high streets and malls? Is there a role for robots? The prototype developed by the MuMMER project may be able to help. Mary Ellen Foster, is a Senior Lecturer in Human-Robot Interaction at the University of Glasgow, tells us more. For more info on the projects featured, visit: https://europa.eu/!H93c7p