Wal-Mart Robotics and Labor

 Since Wal-Mart is the largest private employer this is of considerable interest.   How will this use of robotics ultimately influence retail and other industries? Volume of labor versus quality?    Ultimately labor is a big cost that is continually examined.   Digital Trends takes a look:

Walmart expands fleet of robots to new stores, but promises it won’t cut jobs  By Eric Brackett  in Digital Trends. 

Decades after they revolutionized the manufacturing industry, robots are now making their way to the service industry. PCMag has reported that Walmart is planning on using robots to automate certain mundane tasks.

The world’s largest retailer said it hopes to use automation to “handle tasks that are repeatable, predictable and manual, like scanning shelves for out-of-stock items, incorrect prices, and wrong or missing labels.” The robots have already been deployed in multiple stores in Arkansas, Pennsylvania, and California. Now, the company is preparing to expand the project to 50 additional stores.

The company says that this technology will free up the retailer’s employees to “focus on what they tell us are the most important and exciting parts of working at Walmart — serving customers and selling merchandise.”  .... "