Stop and Shop has Robots in the Aisle

How they are being used is still unclear, but this could get customers used to the idea of robots in the aisle.   Pictures of the bots show an attempt to be humorous.   Perhaps until they got in the way.

Marty the robot may take your picture, but his corporate owners say he doesn't want to spy on you. by Jessica McKenzie  in Engadget

I met Marty in the produce section of a Stop & Shop in Bristol, Rhode Island. I was looking for vegetables to grill over hot coals, while Marty roamed the aisles, big, round eyes staring vacantly ahead, searching for spills and other hazards—with electric sensors strategically placed on its tall, rectangular form. Marty, you see, is a supermarket robot.

Since January, the northeastern supermarket chain Stop & Shop has introduced more than 200 robots to stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Jersey. This month the company will begin rolling Marty out to stores in New York. By the end of the year, there will be more than 300 robots in Stop & Shop stores and nearly 200 more in Giant stores, another supermarket chain owned by the Netherlands-based parent company, Ahold Delhaize.  .... "