Shopping facility assistance systems, devices, and method to identify security and safety anomalies

A central computer system is configured to simultaneously task each of several motorized transport units to temporarily attach to a corresponding mobile item container, such as a shopping cart or trolley, and to drive it around a retail shopping facility in correspondence to the movement of an authorized consumer. At least some of the transport units include a video camera, whose input is received by the computer system and analysed to identify security and safety anomalies. The computer system may assess a degree of risk or threat associated with these security or safety anomalies by characterising contents of images as being either expected or unexpected and as being either potentially harmful or not potentially harmful. The system may learn over time by experience some image contents that are characterised as expected, and may automatically contact non-retail authorities.