Meet Marty, the grocery store robot. This new “employee” is utilizing artificial intelligence to monitor aisles and keep them clear.
A command center in the Philippines controls Marty, reports AP technology writer Matt O’Brien. More specifically, the wheeled robot sends images of spills and messes to the center’s human workers, who in turn trigger cleanup messages over the store’s loudspeaker. Meanwhile, Marty’s cameras and sensors make him smart enough to avoid shoppers and carts. To be sure, that same AI technology will soon enable the googly-eyed robot to monitor inventory, too.
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) president Marc Perrone is keeping an eye on robots like Marty. The “aggressive expansion of automation in grocery and retail stores,” he wrote in an emailed statement, “is a direct threat to the millions of American workers who power these industries and the customers they serve.”
Aisle cleanup, inventory… What other human worker tasks will grocery store robots replace?