In UK: Barred from Grocery Stores by Face Recognition / In US, Used by TSA

 Barred from Grocery Stores by Facial Recognition,    By The New York Times,    June 30, 2023

A facial recognition system alerts Simon Mackenzie, a QD Stores security guard near London, when someone on a shoplifting watchlist has entered.

No longer just the purview of government agencies, facial recognition is increasingly being deployed to identify shoplifters, problematic customers, and legal adversaries.

Credit: Suzie Howell/The New York Times

The use of facial recognition by private businesses in the U.K. is on the rise, with close to 400 retailers in Britain using Facewatch to alert them to return visits by shoplifters, problem customers, and legal adversaries.

For a monthly cost starting at £250 pounds (US$320), the system allows retailers to upload images of alleged offenders from security footage, adding them to a watchlist shared among nearby stores.

Facewatch, which licenses Real Networks and Amazon's facial recognition software, checks people's biometric information as they walk into the store against a database of flagged individuals and sends smartphone alerts to retailers if there is a match.

Big Brother Watch's Madeleine Stone said Facewatch is "normalizing airport-style security checks for everyday activities like buying a pint of milk."

From The New York Times

View Full Article 

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The TSA will use facial recognition in over 400 airports

The agency claims 97% effectiveness in its 25-airport pilot program so far.

By Wes Davis, a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020.

TSA Demonstrates Biometrics And Identity Management Program

The TSA will expand its facial recognition program to over 400 airports.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will expand its facial recognition program to around 430 US airports over the next several years following what it calls “extremely promising” results in its pilot program, according to Fast Company. The agency reportedly said its program yielded 97% effective results across all demographics, including those with dark skin. The program is currently in use in 25 airports.

As pointed out in Fast Company’s story, a 97% effectiveness rate across more than two million airline passengers per day means that, for over 60,000 of those people, the biometrics won’t work properly if it’s used in every airport in the country.

At the moment, the pilot program is officially voluntary. It uses 1:1 matching — that is, it compares your face in the moment against your government-issued ID like a driver’s license or a passport. The TSA says that data is immediately overwritten when the next passenger moves up, and that at the end of the day, no images are saved. ... 

The State of Grocery Retail Around the World

The state of grocery retail around the world

October 6, 2022 | Podcast     By Bill Aull, Dymfke Kuijpers, and Daniel Läubli  in McKinsey

The state of grocery retail around the world ... 

A survey of more than 30,000 consumers and 100 grocery CEOs reveals the challenges—and opportunities—that grocery retailers face today.

Changes to the global grocery retail market are happening fast. Trends that emerged during the pandemic are persisting, reshaping the industry. Consider this: in December 2019, the percentage of e-commerce grocery sales in the US market was slightly under 4 percent; it’s now in the low teens and is expected to reach roughly 25 percent by 2030. The adoption of online grocery is expected to be even higher in parts of Europe.

In this episode of the McKinsey on Consumer and Retail podcast, three McKinsey experts share insights from their latest research on the global grocery retail industry. An edited transcript of their conversation with host Monica Toriello follows. Subscribe to the podcast.

Monica Toriello: Today we’re going to hear about the state of grocery retail all around the world. McKinsey’s Retail Practice has undertaken a huge research effort that encompassed surveys of more than 30,000 consumers and more than 100 grocery CEOs globally about what’s happening in grocery and what the future of the sector might look like. We’ll hear from the regional leaders of this research to tell us about what they’re seeing in Asia, Europe, and North America.

First up is Bill Aull, a partner who leads McKinsey’s office in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bill has expertise in a number of retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) topics, including merchandising, category management, and strategy. Bill, thanks for being here—and tell us one or two things that you get at every trip to the grocery store. For me, it’s seltzer water and some kind of dried fruit. What is it for you?

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Bill Aull: Great to be here. At the grocery store, I always get cream cheese, eggs, and some sort of grainy bread.

Monica Toriello: Next up is Dymfke Kuijpers, a senior partner who leads our Consumer Practice in Asia and our work in consumer tech in the region. Dymfke is a Dutch national who’s been based in Singapore for the past five years. Dymfke, nice to have you with us. And tell us one thing you can’t leave the grocery store without.

Dymfke Kuijpers: Very nice to be here, Monica. I never leave the grocery store without stone berries. They’re the best indication of the supply chain of the grocer.

Monica Toriello: That’s good to know. Last but not least, Daniel Läubli is a senior partner based in Zurich. He leads McKinsey’s work in grocery globally and coleads our Retail Practice in Europe. His areas of expertise include strategy, store operations, and advanced analytics. Welcome to the podcast, Daniel, and tell us what your grocery must-have is.

Daniel Läubli: Monica, great to be here. My grocery must-have is dark Swiss chocolate. I eat at least a pack a day, so whenever I go shopping, I need a lot of that.

How consumer behavior has changed

Monica Toriello: All of us, to some extent, are grocery shoppers; we’re all consumers. So let’s start this conversation with the consumer. Broadly speaking, when consumers shop for groceries these days, they notice that prices are higher. And they’re trying to stretch their budgets, so they’ve become more value conscious, as your grocery reports have said—but you’ve also said they want to eat healthier and they care about sustainability. There’s some tension between those things, because healthier foods and sustainable products tend to be not the cheapest options. Bill, let’s start with North America: Is the picture that I’ve painted an accurate picture of the consumer?  ... ' 

State of Digital Grocery

 Podcast to listen to:

The State of grocery retail around the world

October 6, 2022 | Podcast

By Bill Aull, Dymfke Kuijpers, and Daniel Läubli

The state of grocery retail around the world

A survey of more than 30,000 consumers and 100 grocery CEOs reveals the challenges—and opportunities—that grocery retailers face today.

Changes to the global grocery retail market are happening fast. Trends that emerged during the pandemic are persisting, reshaping the industry. Consider this: in December 2019, the percentage of e-commerce grocery sales in the US market was slightly under 4 percent; it’s now in the low teens and is expected to reach roughly 25 percent by 2030. The adoption of online grocery is expected to be even higher in parts of Europe.

In this episode of the McKinsey on Consumer and Retail podcast, three McKinsey experts share insights from their latest research on the global grocery retail industry. An edited transcript of their conversation with host Monica Toriello follows. Subscribe to the podcast.

Monica Toriello: Today we’re going to hear about the state of grocery retail all around the world. McKinsey’s Retail Practice has undertaken a huge research effort that encompassed surveys of more than 30,000 consumers and more than 100 grocery CEOs globally about what’s happening in grocery and what the future of the sector might look like. We’ll hear from the regional leaders of this research to tell us about what they’re seeing in Asia, Europe, and North America.

First up is Bill Aull, a partner who leads McKinsey’s office in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bill has expertise in a number of retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) topics, including merchandising, category management, and strategy. Bill, thanks for being here—and tell us one or two things that you get at every trip to the grocery store. For me, it’s seltzer water and some kind of dried fruit. What is it for you?   (podcast at link, following grocery closely) ... '

Once Again: Smart Shopping Carts

 Experimented with similar approaches in the 90s in our retail labs.   Will it work now?  Still needs a really clear reason to play.

Will smart shopping carts transform the shopping experience at Albertsons?  In Retailwire by George Anderson

Customers at a few dozen stores owned by Albertsons will have the option of using smart shopping carts that allow them to pick products and walk out of the store without having to stop at a checkout.

The grocery giant in November first tested the carts at two of its stores located in California and Idaho, reports CNBC. The decision to scale the pilot was based on results at those locations.

The carts, manufactured by Veeve, a retail tech startup founded by two former Amazon execs, “offer a sophisticated, yet simple self-checkout experience for people who value flexibility and time savings,” Alyse Wuson, senior director of omni experiences at Albertsons, said in a statement. “Our goal is to enhance the grocery experience no matter how our guests choose to shop, and Veeve’s technology brings the ease and integration of e-commerce right to the grocery cart.”

Albertsons is not alone in testing whether the high costs of smart carts can be justified by consumer usage in stores.

Instacart last October acquired Caper AI, a startup whose smart shopping tech has been tested by Kroger, Sobey’s and Wakefern. The delivery service’s CEO Fidji Simo said of the deal, “We’re focused on creating even more ways for retailers to develop unified commerce offerings that help address consumer needs across both online and in-store shopping.”

Amazon in 2020 introduced its Dash Cart to help customers with smaller orders (two bags) check out their purchases without having to stop at a register. Albertsons has been engaged in a number of omnichannel initiatives in recent years with the goal of meeting its customers where and when they want to shop.

The grocer launched FreshPass, an Amazon Prime-like subscription service, that offers members unlimited free deliveries on orders of $30 or more. FreshPass members either pay $99 a year or $12.99 a month.

The supermarket chain operator has expanded its use of micro-fulfillment centers for online orders as well as in-store robots, automated grocery pickup kiosks and other new omnichannel technologies. Albertsons, last September, announced that it had entered into a deal with a video platform to engage customers through shoppable cooking videos on its  .... ' 

Russian Hypermarket Tour

 As someone who has toured European and Asian grocery/hypermarkets in past years for a major US retailer, found this fascinating.   Prices in Russia, especially for staples seemed to be distinctly lower, and breadth of availability considerable, similar to if not greater than a US Wal-Mart. The 38 minute Youtube, linked to below, done in recent weeks.  was filmed without government direction.  No empty shelves either.  Many US and international brands.  Some masks seen.   Bottom line, its not the 60s anymore.    Read the comments which give you further reactions,  primarily from the West.   Assuming prices are sanely applied, an indication of excellent, and good supply chains, given the many western European brands.

A TYPICAL Hypermarket GROCERY STORE IN RUSSIA 🇷🇺 Food & Prices | Are Western Products Sold In Russia?

Youtube tour, By 'Matt and Julia'  Done three weeks ago.   About 38 Minutes.

Retail Grocery Podcasts

 Just reintroduced to Jungle Jim's International Market's Podcasts, which do a good job of introducing the novelty of their retail world.  In our retail innovation days we used them as an example of what could be done with engaging tech.  Then they used a simple blog, now they have expanded this to a complimentary YouTube site with the same name.     Check it out, use the name above to fetch podcasts, or the YouTube channel. 

Amazon Continues Grab-and-Go Rollouts

 Amazon still thinks the 'Go' concept is a good one, perhaps with locational interests, now a roll out in London. 

Amazon will open the doors to a grab-and-go, checkout-less grocery store on Thursday  By Tonya Garcia

Amazon Fresh grocery store with ‘Just Walk Out’ technology will also offer customers the option for a traditional grocery transaction

The new Amazon Fresh grocery store will have "pay-by-palm" and "Just Walk Out" technologies.  

Amazon Fresh is opening a grocery store in Bellevue, Wash. on Thursday, June 17 that will offer customers the chance to grab and go without standing on line at a checkout lane.

The launch is the latest in a grocery technology war that is making a trip to the store for milk, bread and eggs a digitally-advanced experience.

The newest Amazon Fresh grocery store will feature the company’s “Just Walk Out” technology that allows shoppers to place things in their cart and leave the store without a stop at the cash register to pay the bill.

Read: Amazon picks London for first checkout-free physical store outside the U.S.

Instead, shoppers can wave their palm, scan a QR code in the Amazon AMZN, 0.39% app or use a credit or debit card upon entry. Customers repeat the mode of payment on their way out the door and receive a digital receipt on their Amazon account. ... ' 

Directional Smells, Virtual Odors, Stereo Smell

In our innovation enters we tried to enhance smell,  but not usually directionally.  It was expected that the people would determine changes in smell by their own motion.   Might be useful for example in detecting gas leaks in disaster relief operations.  Really a quite interesting change in how aroma sense might be redefined.   But is that useful? 

Digital Nose Stimulation Enables Smelling in Stereo

IEEE Spectrum, Evan Ackerman, May 13, 2021  via ACM

Researchers at the University of Chicago (UChicago) have developed a wireless, nose-worn device that can enable directional smell using tiny electrical impulses. The battery-powered hardware has magnets to keep itself attached to the inside of the nose; it can detect inhalation, and employs electrodes to stimulate the septum and trigger the trigeminal nerve. The model, which connects with external sensors, works well enough that completely untrained people can use it to localize electrically-triggered virtual odors. UChicago's Jas Brooks said, "The sensation our device produces can feel like a 'tickling' or 'sting,' not far from that of wasabi or the smell of white vinegar, except it is clearly directional." The stimulator could be used as an assistive device for people suffering loss of olfactory function.  .. "

Microsoft in China Retail Tech?

Had visited Microsoft's retail tech facility in the past.

Microsoft Pushes into Growing Grocery Tech Market with Deal in China

CNBC, Evelyn Cheng, May 20, 2021  

Microsoft's Chinese branch last week announced its latest omnichannel retail push to develop cloud-based software for store operators, in partnership with Chinese retail technology provider Hanshow. Hanshow, whose clients are mainly Chinese and European supermarkets, said its products include electronic shelf labels that can display price changes in real time, a system that helps workers pack produce faster for delivery, and a cloud-based platform that lets retailers simultaneously view the temperatures of fresh produce in stores worldwide. The partnership also will develop Internet of Things technology, while Hanshow's Gao Bo said Hanshow will gain access to Microsoft Office 365 software such as Word, and Dynamics 365, a cloud-based customer relationship management system. Joe Bao at Microsoft's China unit said the partnership aims to extend the reach of China's grocery technology globally.

Albertsons Partners with Google

Interesting out of market play,  but I do remember being shown a Google physical store mapped space that digitized the experience of shopping lists.  See my tags below on shopping lists.  Where will this take it?  To the 'worlds most predictive grocery engine"?  Expected more from Amazon and Dash on this.   Investigating, send me more. 

Threatened by Amazon, Albertsons Partners With Google to Digitalize the Grocery Shopping Experience

In Forbes, Johan Moreno March 31, 2021

A multi-year partnership between Google and Albertsons Companies, the No. 2 grocer in the U.S. by store count, aims to digitalize the grocery shopping experience at a time when competitor Amazon is expanding its brick-and-mortar grocery footprint via Amazon Fresh. The partnership would integrate Google's Cloud AI technologies into Albertsons' operations to create what Google called "the world's most predictive grocery engine." The move could help Google as it works to make its cloud business profitable and help Albertsons take on Amazon Fresh. Albertsons has launched Google's Business Messages in a limited capacity to provide shoppers with Covid-19 vaccine information, and plans to release the shoppable maps and predictive grocery-list-building capability soon.   ... '

Changed but Sticky Grocery Habits

 Grocer habits changed for good?  

COVID Buyer Habit Index Quantifies Stickiness of New Consumer Behaviors

Data and tech company finds fresh seafood, wine and baking ingredients among most habit-forming

Marian Zboraj in ProressiveGrocer

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected at-home food consumption and food delivery, but as vaccines become more readily available to the general public, retailers are wondering what, if any, of the pandemic buying behaviors are likely to remain in the public’s post-COVID routines. ..." 

Just Walk Out: Cashierless Shopping

Being tested in a number of Amazon Go Stores.   Pushing convenience.   In my cook role would love to be able to 'just walk out' with an ingredient item or two.  Is it enough to get me to use Amazon Fresh or Amazon Go stores?

Amazon Quietly Began Building a Grocery Chain During Pandemic

The company has opened 11 Amazon Fresh stores around the U.S., with plans for at least 28 more, as it tries to lure mainstream shoppers. 

By Matt Day in Bloomberg  March 11, 2021, 5:00 AM EST

As many businesses struggled to survive the pandemic, Amazon.com Inc. was quietly building a national grocery chain.

The first Amazon Fresh store opened to the public in Los Angeles in September. Store No. 11 opened Thursday, and Amazon is working on at least 28 more, from Philadelphia to the Sacramento suburbs. The company is also testing the “Just Walk Out” cashierless shopping technology created for its Go convenience stores at an Amazon Fresh location in Illinois.  ... " 

Wal-Mart Leverages IOT

Good,  relatively simple applications are talked.

Walmart Shows the Way on IoT in Food Retail  in  ProgressiveGrocer  By Thad Rueter - 01/25/2021

Walmart uses IoT technology for a variety of tasks — including keeping ice cream frozen and milk cold.

Get ready to hear a lot more about how Internet of Things (IoT) can improve food retail — especially now that Walmart is working harder to promote its use of the technology.

“Internet of Things,” of course, refers to how physical objects are connected via software, sensors and the internet, with the goal of providing more precise detection, communication, analysis and action — all of which can help businesses run more efficiently, at least in theory.

In a recent blog, Sanjay Radhakrishnan, Walmart’s vice president, global tech, described how the retailer is using IoT technology for a variety of tasks — including keeping ice cream frozen and milk cold.

“As part of our digtal transformation, we’re using Internet of Things (IoT) at a scale unmatched across retail to improve food quality, lower energy consumption and keep costs low for our customers,” Radhakrishnan wrote. “Currently, Walmart manages more than 7 million unique IoT data points across our U.S. stores. Every day, this network of connected devices sends almost 1.5 billion messages regarding temperature, operating functions and energy use.”

The push toward more IoT capability required Walmart to build proprietary software with complex algorithms able to detect abnormal events in real time. All that work can help pay off when it comes to the quality of grocery items.

“Our customers depend on our stores to maintain food at the proper temperature, like keeping ice cream frozen and milk cold,” Radhakrishnan said. “Global Tech is helping our Real Estate team to ensure proper food quality through monitoring our refrigeration units with IoT systems. Our IoT application not only monitors the temperature of the individual unit to ensure proper food safety standards, but also looks at how the equipment is performing and takes proactive steps towards maintenance repairs to reduce the cost and down time caused by equipment failure.”  ... ' 

Future of Grocery is Omnichannel

 Clearly, but the how the sculpted elements of the supply chain, from supplier to store to door will require much technology and behavioral experimentation.

The Future of Grocery Is Omnichannel  in Supplychainbrain

October 6, 2020 By Michael Schedlbauer, Global Industry Manager – Grocery Industry, TGW

Which grocery shopping items are you willing to buy online or via click-and-collect? Most of us would be happy to order reliably uniform products, such as toilet paper, frozen vegetables or canned tomatoes, without choosing them off the shelf. But what about fresh fish, or potatoes? Maybe, if you trusted the retailer. Tomatoes and avocadoes, though, are probably a step too far. Most people would prefer to give them a good look-over in person, even a squeeze.

And yet, the growth in online grocery orders — whether for delivery or pick-up — is undeniable. Many consumers made it over the initial hurdle of establishing which online retailers to work with, and taking the time to set up an account, during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Now, they appreciate the gains in convenience and time-saving, and are continuing to shop that way, at least more than they did before. A recent McKinsey report predicted online grocery shopping could rise to more than 10% of the total by 2025, and commented that online grocery is supply driven. As online grocery retailers provide more online capacity and options, customers will adopt this new method of grocery shopping.

Grocery retailers are challenged with building flexibility into their supply chains to meet these new demands; thus we will see the future of grocery retail adopting omnichannel solutions. Consumer demands will continue to evolve in an environment where there is a wider choice of customer journeys, and the grocery industry must be ready to respond.  ... "

Grocery

Pointed out to me.  Book that links to my past technical life. With some interesting links into our current situation.  Probably a good read for those getting into this space.

The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket   by Benjamin Lorr 

What does it take to run the American supermarket? How do products get to shelves? Who sets the price? And who suffers the consequences of increased convenience end efficiency? In this alarming exposé, author Benjamin Lorr pulls back the curtain on this highly secretive industry. Combining deep sourcing, immersive reporting, and compulsively readable prose, Lorr leads a wild investigation in which we learn:  .... '

Kroger Tests and Provides Clinics

Widening services that traditional grocery provides,

Kroger unveils COVIDCare Plus coronavirus test program for employers
Kroger Health solution includes home testing kit plus clinical services
Russell Redman  in Supermarketnews

The Kroger Co., through its Kroger Health arm, today launched a coronavirus testing solution for employers.

Called COVIDCare Plus, the plan comprises Kroger Health’s FDA-authorized COVID-19 Test Home Collection Kit, which became available in July, and access to clinical services offering primary health and wellness care. The program is now available in 17 states, with plans to roll it out to more states soon, Kroger said Thursday. .... "

On the Smart Supermarket Shelf

A space we did lots of work on with startups and big players.    Our innovation center tested them all.

Smart Supermarket Shelves: A Shopping Transformation

Yuval Boger / 13 Jul 2020 / Connected Devices / IoT  in Readwrite
digital supermarket shopping
 
It seems that everywhere we turn, the world is being digitally transformed, and your local supermarket could be next. We’re all used to the “non-digital” supermarket shelves — but digital supermarket shelves are likely to be the way of the future. That’s because they can deliver benefits to both consumers and supermarket retailers, so it’s a win/win situation. Here is: smart supermarket shelves — a shopping transformation.

How smart supermarket shelves could benefit consumers
The major potential benefits for consumers center on the capability of powered supermarket shelves to interact with smartphones. This can create a personalized shopping experience for consumers.

Consider these two potential applications of smart supermarket shelf technology:

1) A digital sign that could display a relevant promotion to a shopper as they walked past. This promotion could be triggered by the types of groceries that the customer has bought in the supermarket in the past and by the supermarket shelf sensor interacting with the customer’s smartphone to detect when they were approaching the shelf.

Consumer demographic data (like age, gender and cultural background) could also be used to trigger personalized supermarket shelf display information.

2) A smartphone shopping list feature where information on where customers can find grocery items that are on their list could be digitally and automatically provided to them by powered, smart supermarket shelving. ..."

Amazon: Re-Emergence of the Smart Cart

We looked at many applications of the smart shopping cart for work in our innovation centers.  The idea seemed to fade then, after 2010,  and none of them succeeded in real practice.  Now surprisingly, Amazon, which has been  doing automatic checkout without the smart cart, has come up with a cart.  Perhaps for enticing bigger buys?  It often too allowed a means to market to the shopper.  See my many posts over years in the 'Smart Cart', tag below, for a history of the space.

Amazon’s new ‘smart’ shopping cart uses sensors to enable cashierless stores   By Maria Deutscher in SiliconAngle

Amazon.com Inc. today pulled back the curtains on its latest retail technology project: a “smart shopping cart” called the Dash Cart that enables store goers to buy groceries without waiting in a checkout line.

Amazon, best known for its e-commerce marketplace, also has a $4 billion-plus brick-and-mortar division. The company is experimenting with cashierless stores that enable customers to walk out with their items and be billed automatically. The Dash Cart is a new evolution of the concept that could help speed up Amazon’s retail expansion, as well advance its plans of becoming a store technology supplier to other retailers.

The Dash Cart (pictured) will first launch in Amazon’s Los Angeles grocery store. It uses a scale, cameras, sensors and computer vision to detect when an item is placed in the cart, as well as if it’s removed later on. When a user is done shopping, they pass through a Dash Cart Lane in the store where their purchase is billed to their Amazon account.  .... "

And further:

Did Amazon just put its Go technology in a shopping cart?  
by George Anderson in Retailwire

Amazon.com is rolling out a new smart shopping cart — Amazon Dash Cart — that will eliminate the need for customers to stop at registers in order to check out of a store.


Similar in some ways to the Just Walk Out technology used in Amazon’s Go convenience format, Dash Cart is designed for small-to-medium sized grocery trips of up to two bags. It uses computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion to identify items placed by shoppers in the cart. When shoppers are ready to check out of the store, they exit through a marked Dash Cart lane where sensors identify the cart and payment is processed using the credit card they use on the Amazon site....'

Robot Disinfecting a Food Bank

Would seem to be a very efficient use of robotics.  Considerable detail and video about the process at the link.

CSAIL robot disinfects Greater Boston Food Bank
Using UV-C light, the system can disinfect a warehouse floor in half an hour — and could one day be employed in grocery stores, schools, and other spaces.
Watch Video

By Rachel Gordon | MIT CSAIL

Marty the Robot at Stop&Shop

Good view of what they are doing with robots at Stop@Shop. Mostly to map and feed video images and alerts to spills.  Will not talk to the shopper.  Impressive rollout.   One of the first examples of in store walking with the shopper.  Have never seen it live, but will make a note to.



Marty the Robot Rolls out AI in the Supermarket  in AI Trends
Marty the supermarket robot is among the first to travel with customers in the store, looking to avoid collisions and find spills.    By John P. Desmond, AI Trends Editor 

When six-foot-four inch Marty first rolled into Stop & Shop, the robot walked into history. Social robot experts say it is among the first instance of a robot deployed in a customer environment, namely supermarkets in the Northeast. 

Marty rolls around the store looking for spills with its three cameras. It does take the place of the human worker, called an associate, that did the same thing, but it means the associate can do something else. Doing the walk-around of the store is seen as a mundane task. 

Marty does not talk or tell jokes. Unlike Alexa, who many children in the store undoubtedly interact with at home, Marty will not respond. The robot does notify associates when it sees with its computer vision that something on the floor needs to be cleaned up, through the public address system. An associate comes over to clean it up, and presses a button on Marty that it’s done. Marty takes a picture of the cleaned-up aisle.    ..." 

Badger Technologies Rolled Out 500 Martys in 2019 

The AI in Marty is concentrated on the machine vision and the collision-avoidance navigation features, according to Tim Rowland, CEO of Badger Technologies, makers of Marty. After trials, Badger rolled out 500 multi-purpose robots into Stop & Shop and Giant/Martin’s grocery stores on the East Coast over the course of 2019. Each Marty is equipped with navigation systems, high-resolution cameras, many sensors and its software systems.   ... "

At the link, much more detail and Images.