Students' app can help Kill The Queue

Imagine being able to skip the long queues at supermarket check-outs and pay for your items immediately as you shop.

This concept was one of the 20 projects showcased yesterday by graduating Business Information Technology (BIT) students from Temasek Polytechnic.

The mobile application called Kill The Queue allows shoppers to save time by scanning and paying for their items through their mobile phones as they shop.

The brainchild of six students, the Kill the Queue project was developed as part of a collaboration with the Government Technology Agency (GovTech). It originated from the inaugural internal GovTech Innovation Challenge in 2017.

The Innovation Challenge is one of GovTech's initiatives to encourage staff to ideate and prototype new tech solutions for the public good.

The students spent six months on the app, with which shoppers can select from a list of participating retailers based on their location.

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They can then scan the QR code on the items and checkout through the app using their preferred credit card.

This system ensures shoppers can avoid queuing up at cashier or self-checkout counters.

Additionally, participating retailers will have access to an administrative website that will allow them to gain better data insights on customer purchases and demographics. They will then be able to manage store operations and stocks, and send customers promotional notifications.

Despite facing challenges such as having to find ways to incorporate what they had learnt in lessons, as well as learning and experimenting with additional software to enhance their app, the students were encouraged by the reception of the end-product.

"We felt very proud after seeing the amount of work we put in turn into reality. It feels like the project is our very own child," said student Sim Jie Ru, 22.

Mr Kelvin Lim Teng Kwee, 53, a senior lecturer who oversaw all the projects, commended the students for working extremely hard.

"What they built is beyond their curriculum," he said. "They have taken a lot of initiative to develop the applications by doing market research and interviewing the companies to come up with the final prototypes."

Other student projects included an educational game for young children that promotes financial literacy, and a shopping cart mobile application with a virtual fitting room using augmented reality.