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"Companion" scanner makes grocery shopping easier for elderly

Companion

The BBC has a piece on a joint project between the Bristol City Council, Brunel University and Somerfield supermarket that is aiming to help the elderly do their grocery shopping from home. The "Companion" is just a barcode reader that senior citizens use to scan items from a catalogue or straight from the cans, it then automatically places an order to the supermarket through a phone line (think of it as CueCat for people who might actually use it). The project is currently in a trial stage with about a dozen people that will run until July, and there's no word on when the system might actually be rolled out.