as stores re-merchandise, change layouts, move floor displays, adjust lighting, respond to environmental situations – robots are much more adept at adjusting dynamically to the new playing field. Robotics provide for a more dynamic response to these types of situations, i.e. Robots can also enable multi-lingual communication with customers, directions to the restrooms or to specific product aisles – however this application is more novel than practical. Spill spotting and cleanup is another use. Inventory counting can change, and needs reprogramming based on how much flexibility the store needs to move items around. The most valuable use of front-of-house robots for grocery might just be cleaning the floors – I’m thinking iRobot’s Roomba for retailers. Lastly, employees need to believe that the robots aren’t doing their jobs for them. Maintenance and management costs and time need to be reduced to make the robots valuable additions to the staff. Ultimately, it will come down to cost – the robots have to be lower in cost per store than a few hours of a part time associate’s wages. Many items are not floor level – meaning ladders are necessary to see what’s stacked, hence these types of robots can execute this type of task much faster and more efficiently. Sam’s Clubs are effectively warehouse club operations, so seeing the robots will have less impact to customers. Are store robots cute, creepy or nearly useless? – RetailWire.Ocado unveils lighter robots to help grocery giants like Kroger take on Amazon – CNBC.Walmart drops scan and go tech again – RetailWire.Will Walmart’s decision to scrap robots have far-ranging effects? – RetailWire.Marty the robot: Non-essential worker – Mashable.Walmart Brings Inventory-Tracking Robots to Sam’s Club – The Street.Most recently, Walmart introduced a scan and go option as part of its Walmart+ loyalty program, available to use through that smartphone app. The first pilot ran from 2012 to 2014 and the second ran from 2017 to 2018. While it may be perplexing that Walmart would implement technology in Sam’s Club similar to the kind that failed in its mainline stores, scan and go technology, which has remained in consistent use at Sam’s Club, was piloted and dropped twice at Walmart. As social distancing rules were put into place nationwide, Stop & Shop customers began to complain that the looming presence of Marty was preventing them from maintaining distance from one another, according to Mashable. The robot has not proven popular, especially since the beginning of the pandemic. Stop & Shop began putting the googly-eyed, hazard detecting Marty the Robot in stores in 2019. Other grocers have also piloted robots in the customer-facing portion of their operations. More grocers are managing picking and packing through robotic solutions. In-store robotics are becoming a more frequent fixture at large grocers with much of the technology being adopted to manage back-of-house operations. The retailer had about 500 inventory robots operating in 7,400 stores before the pilot was ended. Walmart also registered concerns about customers reacting poorly to seeing the inventory robots roaming the aisles. In November of 2020, Walmart ended its pilot of standalone shelf inventory robots after concluding that it was less expensive to simply leave the task of noting out-of-stocks to the employees working the shelves. The robots will be present in every Sam’s Club location. The devices, supplied by Brain Corp., are also fitted with shelf-scanning technology to take stock of inventory while they work, according to The Street. Walmart is introducing 600 floor cleaner robots to Sam’s Club. Inventory tracking robots did not work out for Walmart, but now the company is trying them out at Sam’s Club.
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