Putting the brakes on trolley theft

Invention by Temasek Poly students catches the eye of NTUC FairPrice

AN INVENTION by a
group of Temasek Polytechnic
(TP) students to
prevent trolley thefts has
caught the attention of NTUC
FairPrice, the biggest supermarket
chain in Singapore with over
225 stores islandwide.
The contraption involves installing
brakes on the trolleys,
which will be activated the moment
the trolleys go beyond the
exit of the supermarkets.
When contacted about the invention,
an NTUC FairPrice
spokesman told my paper:
“We lose over 70 trolleys a
month to trolley thieves, so we
take the issue of misplaced trolleys
seriously. We are heartened
that TP students are exploring
ways to tackle this issue. We will
study the idea and take into consideration
factors that may affect
its feasibility.”
Two weeks ago, it was reported
that supermarkets lose up to
100 trolleys each month. They
are either stolen, go missing or
are found abandoned.
For their final-year project,
three students at TP’s Temasek
Engineering School – Mr Lee
Guo Sheng, 19; Mr Wang Kai,
22; and Mr Lam Yan Feng, 21 –
have installed brakes on the
wheels of supermarket trolleys
which are activated when they
hit a hump placed at store exits.
If a trolley thief tries to remove
a trolley forcibly by lifting
it, the trolley would collapse
inwards into a pile, rendering it
immovable.
The team was inspired to
tackle the problem of trolley
theft after reading reports about
the issue in the newspapers.
Mr Lee said: “It seems that
trolley theft has been a serious
problem for a long time. Supermarkets
suffer huge losses every
month. So, we decided to use
our project to come up with an
innovative solution.”
Their lecturer and project supervisor,
Ms Christina Ng, said:
“I told them not to think of a solution
that is too complicated,
but instead something like a simple
braking system that could
be installed easily on an existing
trolley, with minimal capital
needed and no complicated electronic
circuits, so that costs are
kept low.”
The prototype will be completed
by September.
cheryll@sph.com.sg