Cisco MasterTech 2024

The MasterTech Challenge, led by Innovation Central Melbourne, is a five-day hackathon-style event focused on building technical skills and creating innovative technology solutions with real-world impact.

The Challenge

Coles Group set the stage with a broad, ambitious challenge: “Find the future of retail!” To narrow our scope, Coles shared some guiding principles:

• Convenience, Affordability, and Accessibility: Striking a balance across these essentials is a priority.
• Sustainability: Coles is looking for green, forward-thinking solutions that reduce their environmental footprint.
• Customer Experience: The traditional retail experience has seen minimal innovation; Coles wants to change that.
• Integration: Seamlessly merging the in-store and online shopping experience is a key goal.
• Scalability: Even minor changes could have massive impact across Coles’ 850+ stores.

Planning

The first two days were devoted to brainstorming, ideation, and planning. For our team from Innovation Central Adelaide, this time was both valuable and, at times, frustrating. We had many “wouldn’t it be great if Coles could…” moments, only to find that Coles already had solutions in place. But this validation of our ideas kept us optimistic.

After considering ideas like food-mile tracking with suggested sustainable alternatives and meal planning synced with pantry inventory to minimise food waste, we finally settled on an impactful idea: a low-cost Smart Shopping Trolley—The Smart Cart. This solution would use consumer devices to bridge the gap between digital and in-store experiences, making it a perfect fit for Coles’ goals.

Development and Final Solution

With our idea solidified, we got to work. Alistair took on the front-end development, while I focused on the backend. Thanks to Innovation Central Melbourne’s support, we had all the necessary electronics and networking equipment on hand.

Although my web development skills were a bit rusty, I found my footing with Alistair’s support. By the end of the first day (or rather, early morning of the second), I had the backend functioning and was ready to dive deeper into the code. Over the course of the challenge, we collectively wrote more than 15,000 lines of code across 47 commits, resulting in a fully functional Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that we were proud of.

Our Smart Cart MVP seamlessly integrated user devices, enabling features like:

• In-store navigation to locate items on the shopping list efficiently.
• Price comparison options for sustainable choices.
• Instant stock updates, allowing users to check product availability in real-time.

Unfortunately, due to proprietary licensing from La Trobe, I can’t share the code we developed. But I’ll admit, it’s far from a masterpiece—the “Minimum” in MVP definitely applied here!

The Experience

On the final day of the competition, as we were finalising our solution, we received surprising news: Coles announced they would soon trial a smart shopping trolley from a third-party vendor. We knew similar products existed, but their high cost limited widespread adoption. Still, we pressed on to complete and polish our solution, focusing on a cost-effective, scalable option that Coles could consider in the future.

After putting in the last touches, we turned our attention to preparing and practicing our presentation. Presenting our MVP was the culmination of all our effort, and I felt a deep sense of pride in what we’d accomplished.

I can’t say enough about the experience. The friendships, camaraderie, and skills I gained are memories I’ll hold onto. I am deeply grateful to have been recommended for this opportunity. I also want to thank Kathryn Anderson and Richard Dodsworth from Innovation Central Adelaide for their immense support, especially Kathryn’s persistence in locating a shopping trolley for our demo despite Melbourne’s geofencing and the need to negotiate with Coles staff. The input from Coles themselves offered exciting insight into the needs of the challenge, and motivated us to keep going – especially during those early mornings.