Walmart to deploy robots to 650 stores in the U.S.

RE: Walmart to deploy robots to 650 stores in the U.S.

dubbie — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 10:53:00 GMT

I guess it might be worthwhile but it seems quite a lot of mobile robot for a relatively simple task. But then again, that is where robots can make a worthwhile contribution - -in simple tasks. It might be simpler to just put sensors on all the shelves to detect when items are out of stock, a bit like in some modern car parks which detect when spaces are empty. Or possibly just put cameras in the ceiling to monitor item availability on shelves.

Dubbie

RE: Walmart to deploy robots to 650 stores in the U.S.

dougw — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 22:34:56 GMT

In 2003, Walmart told its top 100 suppliers and vendors they had to tag all pallets and cases with RFID tags within two years.

That "pilot" project made RFID into a mainstream technology, but although the price of tags has come down from 75 cents to 5 cents, they are still struggling to replace bar code labels.

Robots in retail is similar - it is now a mainstream technology, but ubiquitous penetration could be a far off.

Presumably it will translate into a growing demand, more tech jobs, and hopefully lower retail prices.

RE: Walmart to deploy robots to 650 stores in the U.S.

ntewinkel — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 21:36:36 GMT

That's really interesting!

And given that they are expanding the existing fleet of 350, that suggests they've had some level of success with it already.

Seems like quite the task. Must be a pretty cool project for their engineers to be working on!

-Nico

RE: Walmart to deploy robots to 650 stores in the U.S.

clem57 — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 20:25:04 GMT

I wonder how the customers will view these robots while they are shopping?