Shopping facility assistance systems, devices and methods

A motorized transport unit for shopping facility personal assistance comprising:

• a housing;
• a locomotion system configured to move the motorized transport unit through a shopping facility space;
• a rechargeable power source configured to power the motorized transport unit;
• a wireless transceiver;
• and
• a control unit coupled to the motorized transport system, the rechargeable power source and the wireless receiver, wherein the control unit is configured to:
• communicate with one or both of a central computer system of a shopping facility personal assistance system and a user interface unit of a user that is temporarily associated with the motorized transport unit;
• and
• control the locomotion system to control movement of the motorized transport unit through the shopping facility space based at least on commands from the central computer system and inputs from the user interface unit that is temporarily associated with the motorized transport unit.

A method of shopping facility personal assistance comprising:

• communicating, by a central computer system, with one or both of a plurality of motorized transport units and a plurality of user interface units, wherein the plurality of motorized transport units are located in and configured to move through a shopping facility space;
• associating each user interface unit with a respective one of the plurality of motorized transport units to support the respective user associated with the respective user interface unit;
• receiving, at the central computer system, inputs from a first user interface unit of the plurality of user interface units;
• and
• controlling, by the central computer system, movement of a first motorized transport unit, of the plurality of motorized transport units, associated with the first user interface unit through the shopping facility space based at least on the inputs from the first user interface unit.