Dive Brief:
- Robotic designers are working on solutions to make life easier for warehouse pickers and retail shoppers, according to DC Velocity.
- Automated shopping carts that follow pickers through a warehouse or follow shoppers through the store and collect the items they pick up may eliminate the need for shoppers to push their own carts.
- DHL, a logistics company, ran a pilot test using robotic tech for collaborative order picking in its supply chain warehouse in Unna, Germany. In the test, two robots followed the pickers, carrying the items, and automatically dropped off the orders at a packing station.
Dive Insight:
Life from “The Jetsons” seems to get more plausible each year as technology advances to make everyday life more convenient. Robots that follow consumers throughout the grocery store as they shop, are just the latest example of futuristic tech in the grocery space.
Considering the popularity of Amazon Go and other stores attempting to do away with checkout lines, innovations like these are a great way to keep people coming to brick-and-mortar formats rather than abandon them for the convenience of online shopping.
Dash, another innovation utilizing robotic tech created by Five Elements Robotics, allows shoppers to give a shopping list to the robot from their phone. The robot will then map out the easiest route to find everything, saving the shopper time and keeping them from forgetting anything on their list. When their shopping trip is complete, consumers can then pay for their items using a Dash unit's built-in scanner, avoiding checkout lines.
Dash robots can also follow consumers to their car before returning to the store on their own to recharge, eliminating the need for employees to collect shopping carts left in parking lots.