Rise of the retail robot

Posted July 17, 2012 |

An American University has developed a robot that aims to assist retailers map their stores and help store staff and customers locate items more easily.

A research group from Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University has created the ‘AndyVision’ machine in an effort to address concerns of both retailers and customers who struggle to locate the items they need to quickly.

“The idea is to transform the future of retail,” associate professor Priya Narasimham said in a video (below). “The idea was born out of me being a shopper. I go to a lot of stores and find it very difficult to find the items I want, and sometimes I leave the store if I don’t find the product I want. And at the same time you get to understand that a lot of store staff don’t quite understand where all the items are either. You see a crying need for there to be real-time store information in everyone’s hands.”

Looking similar in design to the Johnny 5 robot from 1986 film Shot Circuit, the robot moves through the store autonomously and scans store shelves and aisles to construct detailed 3D maps, which are sent to store computers.

“It’s trying to find out where every product is, down to the shelf and the aisle, and once it has all this information it sends it to the store staff so they can find out where everything is,” Narasimham said. “If it sees a gap or a void in the shelf, it knows something is wrong. It’s trying to figure out when things have been misplaced, and it's also doing counts of the inventory inside the store.”

Ryan Wolfe, director campus services Carnegie Mellon University said he believed AndyVision could make a “real difference in retail”, for businesses and consumers alike.

“The potential labour savings associated with robotically controlled inventory management as well as the distribution of accurate store specific 'planagrams' are both exciting,” he said. “Additionally, it has the ability to integrate some of the benefits of a virtual shopping experience into a brick and mortar store, such as improved navigation and fast product location.”

Using the mapping provided by the robot, a screen containing a virtual tour of the store’s inventory can be installed inside the store for customers to browse through, which can include pricing and product information.

Angela Tumolo Neira, a marketing specialist for the Carnegie Mellon store where the technology was being tested, said customers would appreciate AndyVision.

“Consumers in store environments today are educated and have competitive information at their finger tips with very current technology,” she said. “They have limited time and are bombarded with information, their service expectation has never been higher.”

Rikki McAndrew, owner McAndrew Jewellery, told Jeweller recently about the importance of providing product information in his store.

“[In my store] everything is priced and there is a description of the product, it’s nice and clear and customers know what they’re buying,” he said. “They don’t have to ask the price, it’s easy on the eyes and brain, so they don’t have to keep asking questions.”