An increasing number of retailers have unveiled their own plans for grocery shopping robots that can select and pack online orders that the store receives, this includes places like Ocado, Walmart, and others.
The robots have already been used to help scan the shelves, track inventory, select and pack items. They can detect if an item on the shelf is misplaced or mislabeled, and they can check if the pricing is correct etc. They're even carrying out janitor duties.
Dozens of stores have already tested the technology, they've been trying to determine the best use for the technology and looking to get feedback from customers and associates.
Now supermarkets in France are experimenting with the technology too, one supermarket in the region known as Franprix is testing the robots and using them to help deliver people's items to them.
They will only test a few droids at first but if they prove to be successful then the company has said they'll be looking to expand the project. In the image below you can see what they look like.
The grocery shopping droid is going to be able to assist with carrying purchases, even traveling to the customers home to deliver them.
When on the city streets the shopping robots will be followed by an operator because they currently don't have permission to operate solo from the government. However, it's expected that those changes might soon come and then they'll be traveling on their own.
The trial is free of charge for those shoppers who might want to experiment and take part, and is expected to last for at least one year.
Every time I read about how technology is advancing and occupying more and more spaces in the workplace, I have mixed feelings! On the one hand, the satisfaction of seeing how we advance in technology and in consciousness for the most needy, but on the other hand, the concern that technology replaces man and these are marginalized to a group of unemployed and useless. As if to reflect!
Looking on the bright side, the cost savings of robots doing part of the work could free up money to invest in expanding the stores (or building more of them) leading to an increase in jobs as long as there are still humans doing other work there. Nobody can predict the future, but I think technology has generally created more new jobs whenever it has obsoleted old ones, at least historically.
I love technology, I hope we are not tripping over these things all the time. Heck even the human stockers can get on my nerves lol.
i could see them being a big help for the elderly and those with limited mobility issues, especially since they can follow them home with the loot!
Or have a drone delivery the loot, well if its a few items anyways.
I bet there's one thing they cannot do: pick the one with long expiry date. :-)
lol
You may laugh at this reply too.
My ex boss told me this: make the software idiot-proof and I'll find you a better idiot. 😎
Hey, @doitvoluntarily.
My sister has done inventory for stores off and on, and from what I know of it, it's not a bad things for a robot to do when it comes to replacing a human for work. Hers was often temporary or part-time, so she wasn't really making a whole lot. If that's the case generally, then maybe it's the kind of thing a robot should be doing.
As for grocery shopping and delivery, go for it. Some places who have started to do that haven't been doing it so long that they've necessarily been hiring people to specifically do just that. Depending on how popular it really is, there might not be that much demand yet, anyway.
I do see there is an issue with human replacement as robots begin to be used in more and more aspects of different industries. If they keep picking off the part-time or temp jobs, then that might actually be okay, but there's bound to be people who aren't in need of a full-time job, but still want to work.
Automation is a cool thing, and it's been happening for quite sometime, but it looks like it's on the verge of being everywhere all at once, and that might not bode well for human employment if it happens that quickly.