Shopping cart with infrared product validation

A system for validating products that are added to a shopping cart, the system comprising:

• a shopping cart configured to retain one or more products and be pushed by a user in a retail environment, wherein the shopping cart includes product validation hardware and a controller, the product validation hardware including a plurality of alternating light emitters and light sensors positioned in a straight line along a top perimeter of the shopping cart that corresponds to a top horizontal plane of the shopping cart and one or more optical flow sensors positioned along the top perimeter of the shopping cart;
• and
• a mobile device in communication with at least one of the product validation hardware and the controller of the shopping cart, wherein the mobile device is configured to:
• receive user input indicating a scan of a product to be added to the shopping cart;
• identify a unique identifier for the product based on the scan;
• retrieve, from a data store and based on the unique identifier, product information for the scanned product;
• and
• transmit, to the controller, the product information, wherein the controller of the shopping cart is further configured to:
• receive, from the mobile device, the product information;
• receive, from one or more of the light sensors, an indication that the product is entering a top horizontal plane of the shopping cart;
• activate, based on the indication, each of the light emitters in a successive order and at predetermined time intervals to emit light across the top horizontal plane of the shopping cart;
• receive, from one or more of the light sensors that are positioned on a side of the shopping cart that is opposite a side of the shopping cart where the activated light emitter is located, light intensity data that is collected by the one or more light sensors as the product passes through the top horizontal plane of the shopping cart and obstructs at least a portion of the emitted light from being detected by the one or more light sensors;
• receive, from one or more of the optical flow sensors, position translation data of the product as the product passes through the top horizontal plane of the shopping cart;
• determine, based on the position translation data, a velocity of the product;
• identify, from the received light intensity data and based on the velocity of the product, one or more slices of the product;
• reconstruct the product in three-dimensional (3D) space based on stitching together the identified slices of the product;
• compare the reconstructed product to the product information of the scanned product to determine whether the reconstructed product is within a predetermined threshold range of the product information;
• and
• generate, based on determining that the reconstructed product is within the predetermined threshold range of the product information, output indicating that the product added to the shopping cart is validated.