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.

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.  .... " 

Rolling Driverless Convenience Stores

Look forward to seeing something like this. 

Stop & Shop to Test Driverless Mobile Markets  in ThePacker

Stop & Shop customers in the Boston area will be able to shop directly from driverless delivery vehicles in a test set to launch this spring. Shoppers will use an app to request the vehicle and choose their fresh produce, meal kits and other items when it arrives, and the technology records the purchase and sends a receipt.  ... "