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	TX: 07.03.05 - 麻豆约拍 Supermarkets PRESENTER: PETER WHITE

	THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE 麻豆约拍 CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. WHITE And that great populariser of science Professor Heinz Wolf has developed a home barcode reader which means that elderly and disabled people who have problems getting to the supermarket can shop from the comfort of their own living rooms. The inventor came up with the idea for the so-called companion after being approached by a Bristol charity. He's designed it for people who don't feel especially confident with computers and other technical gadgetry. It's currently being trialled by Bristol City Council and the supermarket chain Somerfield. Angela Robson went to the home of an 81 year old who's part of the project. HYAM [Hello Mrs Beatrice Hyam] Usually I make a list out on Sunday night from the catalogue what I'm going to order and then I can go page by page through the catalogue and that's it. I'll order some potatoes. [One potatoes two [indistinct word] for 拢1.19] ROBSON It's like a tiny little television, it's sort of the size of a cat really. Did it take you quite a while to learn how to do this Beatty or was it fairly straightforward? HYAM No I think I'm sort of machine minded, I've worked tills. BREEZE I'm Mary Breeze, I'm a project worker, I work for Bristol City Council. [One Harvest wholemeal half loaf 100 grams for 67p] I started off looking at internet shopping and whether that was suitable for older and disabled people in Bristol and I found that there were a number of problems with it, for example access to computers and fear of computers. It became obvious that a simpler means of ordering shopping from home was needed. I approached Professor Heinz Wolf, who came up with the idea of the companion, which is a computer but instead of a keyboard and mouse it just has a barcode scanner. There's just one button to press and when you press it it makes a very satisfactory peep so you know it's worked. [One Kellogg's cornflakes 500 grams for 拢1.24] ROBSON It's very polite. WOLF There's a chap as well you can have instead or a child. ROBSON Professor Heinz Wolf you're the inventor of the companion now how popular has it been amongst the people you've trialled it with? WOLF According to Mary Breeze, who's the project worker here, she's found very, very few people who haven't found this way of using a barcode reader totally acceptable. She tried it first at day centres, where she had access to lots of people, and has now recruited a number of people who use it as shopping - people like Beatty. And there really hasn't been much of a difficulty. It does appear to be something which is acceptable and if you think about it to a generation which has grown up with mail order. The other dimension is that it's proving so easy to do that we think that people who aren't necessarily old or disabled may actually find this preferable to internet shopping. [One Somerfields English mature 227 grams for 拢1.20] ROBSON Could the companion in the long run be a cost cutting exercise for local authority? BREEZE It would be cheaper for the local authority to use the companion yes, this would free up home care assistants to do their main job, which is personal care - getting people out of bed and washed and dressed ready for the day and the same in reverse at the end of the day. So Beatty we're going to check up on your order now so see you later. HYAM Sorry if I've forgotten anything. ROBSON I'm now with Pete Williams and Pete you're a spokesperson for Somerfield - Beatty's store here in Knowle here in Bristol and very kindly offered to do her personal shopping today. WILLIAMS Here in the manager's office at our store in Knowle the order actually comes in from Beatty as a conventional e-mail now. Here Chris is simply going in and will print it off and then we'll actually go and shop for the groceries in the store and actually using our personal shopper actually pick the groceries for the customer. Normally we like to have the same person actually doing the shopping for the customer and that way will get them more used to the products they like to buy and aware if there's been any problems or hiccups, if they've ordered 50 cauliflowers instead of one or something like that, it's just useful to know your customer. ROBSON So we've got the apples, we've got the potatoes. WILLIAMS Yeah, they're all in there. ROBSON Is this partly also Somerfield promoting its own brands, signing up with this new system? WILLIAMS Well no, we've got to sell the products that our customers want to buy, so what we've actually put together is a catalogue of those products that our customers, certainly our older customers, buy most frequently and really we've been driven by our customer data to actually pick the products that they want. Now obviously if Beatty couldn't find the thing she wants in that catalogue she could also draw items from her own larder and her cupboard or can simply talk to our home delivery driver and we can make sure that we've got that product available for her. Now we'll ring that through at the check out in the normal way, so that will then be charged through and then we hand it over to Scott, our delivery man. ROBSON Well we're going to head back to Beatty's house now, to await the delivery. DOOR BELL RINGING HYAM Hello. DELIVERY MAN Hello, how are you, are you alright? HYAM Yes. DELIVERY MAN Where would you like it? HYAM In the kitchen. DELIVERY MAN In the kitchen again, I'll put it up on the side here. HYAM Okay. DELIVERY MAN And then it's much easier for you. Alright my love? HYAM It saves carrying the heavy things, you know - lemonade and milk and tins - so it does help quite a lot. If I took my trolley up, which I have done at times, it's alright going down empty but to come back with it full up, it is difficult. WOLF It is your companion which sits in the sitting room or your kitchen and is there all the time. In some places where there are sheltered housing it may be possible to use one machine to at least do the shopping for several people. The companion is an example, perhaps one of the latest examples, of really quite high powered technology being developed to make a difference to the quality of life of elderly people. BREEZE One gentleman who was in the trial said to me, now I don't have to spend all my time doing my shopping, I can take my wife out for lunch. Which is really just amazing. WHITE I bet Heinz Wolf didn't know what he was unleashing. That was Mary Breeze from Bristol City Council ending that report by Angela Robson. Back to the Transcripts homepage Back to the You and Yours homepage The 麻豆约拍 is not responsible for external websites

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