Follow us

Menu
PARTNER WITH USFREE NEWSLETTER
VISIT TheIndustry.beauty

Robot shopping trolley: Coming to a superstore near you… maybe

Sandra Halliday
15 June 2016

Another day, another robot story. And more specifically, another Wal-Mart tech story. It seems the US retail giant is now working with Five Elements Robotics to develop a robotic shopping trolley.

Five Elements is the company behind Budgee, the $1,400 “friendly robot that carries your stuff,” and its CEO Wendy Roberts mentioned the new project yesterday the Bloomberg Technology Conference.

Speaking as part of a panel on Robotics, she said the world’s largest retailer is currently evaluating a prototype (although whether she was meant to tell us about it I’m not sure as Wal-Mart itself wouldn’t comment when Bloomberg jumped on the news and contacted it later).

Apparently, the robotic trolley is designed to help customers find the items on their shopping lists and save them from having to push a heavy shopping trolley around both in-store and in the car park.

OK, the benefits of yet another labour-saving device in a western world battling obesity are open to question. For the less mobile and for those of us who struggle to find anything in sprawling superstores, the trolley would have obvious appeal.

It would have some obvious challenges too, if Wal-Mart wanted to roll out something like this widely (the prospect of abandoned robotic shopping trolleys dumped in the canal springs to mind). But one thing is clear, it’s one of many options retailers are trying as they both embrace and fight back against the rise on online shopping.

Alongside enhanced face-to-face service and more exciting in-store experiences, retailers and brands are also making the most of technology in their physical stores to battle the growth of pureplay giants like Amazon.

In recent weeks Wal-Mart has announced a raft of tech tests that should transform its operations within a few years. Robot shopping trolleys may seem a bit sci-fi now, but in 10 years’ time they could be as “normal” as smartphone shopping is now!

Free NewsletterVISIT TheIndustry.beauty
cross