robots

At Food Lion, Marty the Robot clean-sweeps the store a dozen times daily

to identify slip-and-fall hazards on the floor, scan shelves for out-of-stocks

and ensure shelf pricing is aligned with the front end registers

By Randy Hofbauer (/author-profile/rhofbauer) - 08/24/2018

As today’s top grocers seek to find ways to cut

costs and allow their associates to focus more

directly on attending to shoppers’ needs, they’re

employing automation and robotics throughout the

store, improving efficiency and accuracy in

operations from food safety all the way to the last

mile of delivery.

While many grocers have gone on record to share

noteworthy ways that they’re working internally

and externally to integrate new grocery

technology in these areas — and even more are

keeping their lips sealed — here are five

noteworthy food retailers and the areas in which

they’re employing the latest in robotics and

automation solutions.

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When online grocers ramp up ecommerce operations, it’s important that they add technology to make floor

associates’ lives easier in the order-building and -fulfillment process. Walmart arguably has experienced

such growth more than any other traditional brick-and-mortar operator in recent years, so, in partnership

with North Billerica, Mass.-based startup Alert Innovation, it launched Alphabot to assist in the picking

process.

Said to be the first of its kind, the solution helps store pickers speed up the process of filling online grocery

orders, using automated mobile carts that work behind the scenes by picking products from the storage

area and delivering them to one of four picking stations, where pickers consolidate the items into

customers’ orders. Pickers can spend less time walking the aisles for center store items and more time

selecting such fresh items as meat and produce.

“With the aid of Alphabot, our associates will have more time to focus on service and selling, the two

things they often tell us are the most enjoyable part of the job, while the technology handles the more

mundane, repeatable tasks,” said Mark Ibbotson, EVP of central operations, Walmart U.S., at the time

of the launch. “Although this is a small pilot, we expect big things from it. We have a lot to learn about

this new technology, and we’re excited about the possibilities of how we can use it to make the future

of shopping — and working — even better.”

The innovation is being introduced in the Bentonville, Ark.-based mega-retailer’s Salem, N.H., Superstore

as part of the location’s grand reopening, so it should be up and running by the year’s end. A 20,000-

square-foot extension was built onto the store to house the technology and serve as a dedicated grocery

pickup point with drive-thru lanes for customers.

Scan-as-you-shop technology is one of the hot new technologies for easing the shopping experience. The

problem here, though, is pushing customers to do more work by downloading an app and scanning every

product as they put it into the basket — which is arguably why Walmart’s solution of this kind failed.

Ecommerce giant Amazon sought to change this earlier this year with the public debut of its Amazon Go

format, which uses “just walk out” technology to create a truly grab-and-go experience requiring no

additional effort on the shopper's part.

To give a quick overview of how it works: The store uses technology similar to that powering self-driving

cars, employing computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning to automatically detect when products

are removed from, or placed back on, shelves. To use the “just walk out” technology, patrons download

and check in via a mobile app, take what they want, and walk out the door, where they are charged for the

products they take with them. There are no lines or barcodes to be scanned in the process.

Granted, the store’s public debut came 10 months late due to technical difficulties. During a March

presentation at ShopTalk in Las Vegas, Amazon Go VPs Dilip Kumar and Gianna Puerini revealed some

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Walmart’s Alphabot picking system automates key pieces of the online

grocery pickup service using autonomous mobile carts to gather items from

a high-density storage system located in the back of the store

of those issues, which included pulling off the “just walk out” technology in a way that makes it seamless

and effortless, developing algorithms that are beyond state-of-the-art for computer vision and machine

learning to solve the problems of who took what, and creating the robust hardware and software

infrastructure to support everything. Even retraining customers’ behavior when shopping and leaving a

typical grocery store presented a challenge.

The technology appears to be fixed now, as

Amazon has since revealed new locations in San

Francisco and Chicago, and even a second spot

in its hometown of Seattle, where the original is

located.

It’s not just Amazon seeking to open stores with

this technology, though. Albertsons Cos. could be

the next major retailer to roll out “just walk out”

technology similar to Amazon’s, according to

business journal BoiseDev.com.

Specifically, Shane Sampson, chief marketing and

merchandising officer of the Boise, Idaho-based

retailer, said in a May presentation that the retailer

is experimenting with “Amazon Go-like technology” specifically for use with a “limited set of products, like

Plated” meal kits and other prepared offerings. Customers would be able to grab what they want and leave

the store without having to scan a barcode or go through traditional checkout.

It’s been said that adding googly eyes to any plain object makes it fun. This definitely was the case with

Ahold Delhaize USA and Marty, whose purpose is to detect hazards, out-of-stocks and more — and who

reportedly has become quite popular with selfie-snapping shoppers.

In April, Marty the Robot debuted in a La Follette, Tenn., Food Lion store, where it clean-sweeps the store

a dozen times daily to identify slip-and-fall hazards on the floor, to which it alerts associates and also

warns nearby shoppers. It also scans shelves for out-of-stocks and ensures that shelf pricing is aligned

with the front end registers. In the future, Marty’s developer — Lexington, Ky.-based Badger Technologies

— hopes to improve the technology to also check and report temperatures, allowing store managers to

focus on other activities.

Sporting the aforesaid googly eyes, a name tag, and a Shop & Earn ribbon, the robot has become popular

with customers, some of whom come by the store with friends and family just to see it. Numerous postings

and selfie photographs with Marty have also appeared on social media.

The La Follette location’s robot isn’t the only one being used by an Ahold Delhaize USA banner. At the

time of Marty’s debut, four Giant and Martin’s stores in Pennsylvania were using similar robots, and the

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Partnering with Nuro, creator of the world’s first fully unmanned road

vehicle, Kroger is working to make the convenience of grocery delivery

accessible and affordable for customers everywhere through the

developer’s solutions

parent company had plans to roll out robots to all 171 Giant and Martin’s stores by the year’s end.

Also, Ahold Delhaize USA isn’t the first food retailer to test such robots in stores: Last July, St. Louis-

based grocer Schnuck Markets partnered with San Francisco-based automation solutions provider Simbe

Robotics and Irvine, Calif.-based Advantage Solutions’ digital technology division to begin piloting similar

robots at three stores, where the devices scanned shelves over a six-week period three times a day to

ensure proper stocking and product placement.

Leveraging Advantage’s deep client relationships, the robot’s computer-vision technology captured and

analyzed a wide range of data on behalf of three leading global manufacturers, including an understanding

of local market needs and how to optimize for the future; the root cause for the lack of product on shelf;

visibility into share of shelf, price and promotion trends across categories; and more.

Moreover, Minneapolis-based Target Corp. performed a similar pilot in 2016, and last year, Walmart filed a

patent for drone technology to be used in its stores for similar purposes.

Midwestern grocer Hy-Vee is conducting a trial of

a new solution to help automate farm-to-fork

traceability of fresh produce coming to its stores.

Partnering with San Jose, Calif.-based software

company Zest Labs, the retailer is using the Zest

Fresh solution to make sure that it provides a vast

assortment of high-quality natural, organic and

locally sourced products — and also to ensure

that customers understand the sources of the food

they purchase. The solution is claimed to reduce

grocers’ waste from spoilage by more than 50 percent.

Zest Fresh uses the Internet of Things to autonomously track and report product freshness from harvest to

store in real time, in its work with a premium supplier of seedless Holiday grapes. Leveraging what is said

to be the industry’s first dynamic freshness metric — the ZIPR Code — the solution can give West Des

Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee traceability data and continuous real-time visibility of the remaining freshness

capacity of the grapes.

“We are excited to work with Zest Labs to determine how Zest Fresh can help both monitor and improve

freshness while providing complete traceability through the cold supply chain,” said John Griesenbrock,

Hy-Vee VP of produce and Health Markets, when the trial began. “With traceability support, we will

become even more invested in bringing the freshest and highest-quality produce to our customers.”

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Randy Hofbauer is Progressive Grocer's digital and technology editor. He has more than a decade of experience as a journalist and researcher, almost all of it covering CPG retailing. Read More (/author- profile/rhofbauer)

The Kroger Co. is piloting a delivery program that uses unmanned road vehicles to fulfill online grocery

orders.

Partnering with Nuro, the Mountain View, Calif.-based developer of the world’s first fully unmanned road

vehicle, the Cincinnati-based grocer is working to make the convenience of grocery delivery accessible

and affordable for customers everywhere. Through the innovative partnership, customers can place same-

day delivery orders via Kroger’s ClickList grocery ecommerce system and Nuro’s mobile app, which will be

fulfilled by Nuro’s fleet of on-road autonomous vehicles.

“We are incredibly excited about the potential of our innovative partnership with Nuro to bring the

future of grocery delivery to customers today,” said Yael Cosset, Kroger’s chief digital officer, at the

time that the partnership was revealed. “As part of Restock Kroger, we have already started to

redefine the grocery customer experience and expand the coverage area for our anything, anytime

and anywhere offering. Partnering with Nuro, a leading technology company, will create customer

value by providing Americans access to fast and convenient delivery at a fair price.”

The grocery ecommerce pilot marks the first application and deployment of Nuro’s hardware and software.

Its market, Scottsdale, Ariz., will begin receiving service in the fall.

“Unmanned delivery will be a game-changer for local commerce, and together with Kroger, we’re

thrilled to test this new delivery experience to bring grocery customers new levels of convenience and

value,” said Dave Ferguson, co-founder of Nuro, when the pilot was announced. “Our safe, reliable

and affordable service, combined with Kroger’s ubiquitous brand, is a powerful first step in our mission

to accelerate the benefits of robotics for everyday life.”

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