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SEEKONK, Mbad. (AP) – A wheeled robot called Marty goes to nearly 500 grocery stores to alert employees if they leak granola, crushed tomatoes or a pot of broken mayonnaise.
But there could be a human looking behind his wide-eyed eyes.
Tim Rowland, CEO of Badger Technologies, said his camera-equipped robots were shut down after detecting a potential spill. But to ensure that humans working in a control center in the Philippines examine the images before triggering a cleaning message through the speaker.
Rowland said 25 robots are now in use at some Giant, Martin's and Stop & Shop stores, with another 30 arriving weekly. Giant, based in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, announced that two robots were now working in state-owned stores and planned to expand its business to all of Giant's 172 Giant Stores here in the middle of the year. # 39; year.
The chains are all part of the Dutch parent company Ahold Delhaize.
Robots move with laser-based "lidar" sensors and stop when customers and their carts make their way.
Googly eyes are fake, but each robot has eight cameras – some pointed to the ground and others to see the shelves. Rowland said the robots could eventually be reused to help monitor a store's inventory.
A robot observed Tuesday at a Stop & Shop store in Seekonk, Mbad., Alerted shop sellers to announce a price tag dropped in one alley and a tiny branch of herbs in another. After being moved for a few minutes, he returned to the scene of each spill and waited for an employee to press a button to confirm that the debris had been picked up.
This is not the only robot that US buyers could spot this year. Walmart and Midwestern supermarket chains, Schnucks, have deployed robots to monitor inventory.
A union representing workers at Giant and Stop & Shop said he was watching Marty. It remains to be seen what the grocery store will ultimately use technology.
UFCW President Marc Perrone said in an email that "the aggressive expansion of automation in grocery stores and retail stores poses a direct threat to the millions of US workers who animate these industries and the customers they serve. "
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