MORRISONS is trialling a major change to its aisles by using robots to undertake a “crucial” supermarket task.
The retail giant will be the first in the UK to test “Tally” robots, designed by US tech company Simbe, which claim to be the world’s first autonomous inventory bot.
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Three towns in the north of England will experience the robots first, which “check that products on shelves are being displayed correctly and are legally compliant”.
Morrisons technology manager Katherine Allanach told The Grocer: “It is a crucial but time-consuming task and so Tally aims to allow more time for colleagues to focus on customer service.”
The retailer is the first in the UK to invest in Simbe’s robot, which utilises AI and computer vision to independently move its way across store aisles.
Capable of doing this multiple times a day, the bot will collect data as it travels around the shops in Wetherby, Redcar, and Stockton.
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It can capture anywhere between 15,000 and 30,000 products every hour, and self-docks at a charging port when it’s running low on juice.
Morrisons said both customers and colleagues were fans of the new innovation.
A spokesperson for the retailer said: “They have been intrigued and curious but very positive and colleagues in particular can see how supportive Tally could be.”
Morrisons will join a large network of supermarkets around the globe which already use Tally robots, including Carrefour, Kroger, Albertsons, and BJ’s.
Since being introduced on a wide-scale, Tally robots have covered 75,000 miles of ground, captured 1.5 billion pictures, and logged 300,000 hours of autonomous operation.
This comes as shoppers at BJ’s blasted the company for rolling out Tally robots in its stores.
A disgruntled customer recently shared their thoughts on Tally via Facebook post.
“Has anyone been in BJ’s lately and had to listen to that stupid inventory robot?” they said. “It just rolls around whistling like a psychopath in a horror movie.”
Despite calling the bot creepy, it was the shopper who nearly chose violence.
“I had a tough time not ramming that thing with our cart,” they quipped.
Commenters on their post agreed with his alarm at the robot.
“I hate it!” one said.
“It’s SO annoying!!!” another added.
“I swear it follows me from aisle to aisle!! Creep,” a third said.
Kroger rolls out new ‘inventory’ robot workers to 70 stores sparking fears it will ‘put people out of a job’
KROGER has started using new “inventory
Customers noticed the bots with blinking blue lights working the aisles in Great Cincinnati, Ohio.
Kroger has been trialling the new workforce in 70 stores – and could roll the robots out across its shops in the US.
The bots – named Barney – are tall, slender machines that glide between the shelves.
They are the result of a Kroger collaboration with Badger Technologies.
Kroger officials have released few details about the scheme, but said they hoped the tech would keep better tabs on stock levels in “real time”.
One person thought the scheme was “very cool”.
Another suggested: “This would be awesome if it could check for expiration dates too.”
But not everyone was so enthusiastic.
One shopper said the Barney team actually made the shopping experience more difficult.
She wrote: “He moves very slow and gets in the way of shoppers. I would recommend doing this in off hours.”
Another person was equally unimpressed.
They said: “And managers still have to check shelves and prices because it does a poor job. Just like the rest of Kroger and the things they invest in.”
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