Drones Fly into Grocery Stores

AUSTIN, Texas – A drone that scans shelves for missing or misplaced items can accomplish in minutes what it took a human being hours to do—plus, the information gathered is likely to be more accurate. What’s even more surprising is that grocery stores are the ones exploring how this kind of technology can help their business grow, the Washington Post reports.
 
Overall, the business of selling groceries has changed little over the past 100 years. Today, more supermarkets are looking to technology—from robot floor cleaners to delivery robots—as a way to innovate beyond online shopping and self-checkout. Kroger has its autonomous delivery vehicle fleet, while Giant Food Stores has robotic assistants called “Marty.”
 
Walmart has been experimenting with technology as well. “With technology performing mundane tasks like evaluating if shopping carts need to be corralled, associates will be able to spend more time on tasks humans can do best, such as helping customers or adding creative touches to merchandise displays,” the company said.
 
Pensa CEO Richard Schwartz, whose company developed the AI drone, said that these developments make supermarkets “ground zero” for technological innovations. He pointed to three reasons for this:

1. Convenience
2. Experimentation
3. Disruption.

“Amazon is right behind all of this, waking everybody up and basically challenging the industry to find an effective way to do that end-to-end delivery to the consumer with more combinations and more instant gratification,” he said. “Somehow, the future of retail has to marry that convenience with tighter control over knowing what’s available for sale and how much product should be in each location, without completely redesigning every store, everywhere, for every product, in order to compete and deliver effectively.”