Robot Audits Store Shelves
November 14th, 2015Via: ComputerWorld:
An autonomous robot was unveiled this week that can make sure that when you’re hankering for Doritos, there’s a bag waiting for you at the market.
Simbe Robotics, based in San Francisco, announced its first product, a 30-pound robot called Tally that can move up and down a store’s aisles checking inventory. The robot determines what products need restocking and send reports to workers who can add more stock. Tally also is set up to work during normal store hours, alongside employees and customers.
“Tally performs repetitive and laborious tasks of auditing shelves for out-of-stock items, low stock items, misplaced items, and pricing errors,” the company said in a release. “Tally has the ability to audit shelves cheaper, more frequently, and significantly faster than existing processes; and with near-perfect accuracy.”
The robot is equipped with multiple sensors that not only scan shelves for inventory but scan the aisles to make sure the robot isn’t bumping into shelves, displays or shoppers.
Data that the robot captures is sent to the cloud where it is processed and analyzed. Store employees access the cloud data, along with inventory recommendations, through front-end applications.
The robot comes with a charging dock that the machine will autonomously navigate back to when it needs charging.
