Marty the Robot is checking for any slip hazards and scanning shelves for prices that need to be adjusted or items that need to be restocked at a Giant Food Store on Union Deposit Road in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The robot is part of a pilot phase and, if successful, could expand to other Ahold USA banner stores, such as Stop & Shop, Giant-Carlisle and Giant-Landover.
Marty is produced by Badger Technologies of Kentucky.
Wearing googly eyes, the robot strolls around the store with internal scanners to keep it from bumping into obstacles. The robot’s main job is to scan for trip or slip hazards on the floor, from dropped water bottles to tissue paper near the bakeshop’s doughnut case.
The robot can read unit tags and recognize if items are out of stock on the shelf and check prices, and reference it back to the front register system and know whether or not the tag is reflective of the correct retail price.
Other retailers have begun testing robots in store. St. Louis-based Schnuck Markets began a test pilot in three stores involving robots that scan stores three times a day to ensure products are properly stocked. Target used a robot for inventory purposes, and Walmart recently filed a patent for drone technology to be used in the stores.
