Proving once again that progress is inevitable and those who resist it must live a life of lesser consumerism, a new form of automation is coming to both Giant Foods in Lebanon County through the the form of Marty, seen above.
Grocery store conglomerate Ahold Delhaize USA is rolling out the AI-powered robots at nearly 500 Giant Foods, Martin’s, and Stop & Shop locations across the country.
In addition to identifying simple messes, the robot can also generate replenishment reports. These googly eyed job-destroyers are manufactured by Jabil, a publicly traded company based in St. Petersburg, FL. As the corporate homepage explains,
“Yes, it’s a cool robot! But also cool is the advanced data and actionable business analytics that provides a corporate view across stores, real-time knowledge that translates into improved store execution, lower operational costs and higher profits.”
Also cool, indeed. These robots feature:
- Rotating lidar to map and navigate the store
- High resolution and 3D depth cameras for navigation and data acquisition
- Navigation sensors
- 12-hour battery life
PennLive spoke to a number of customers and store employees a couple of years ago during initial pilot testing of the robots.
“So odd,” remarked another YouTuber upon seeing Marty in a Giant.
The machines are expected to be installed in all Giant stores by mid-2019.
Have you seen one of these robots in action? Tell us about the experience in the comments.
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