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Woodman’s Market Adds Badger Technologies’ Robots for Shelf Scanning

by Chris Albrecht
July 29, 2020July 28, 2020Filed under:
  • Behind the Bot
  • Future of Grocery
  • Grocery
  • News
  • Robotics, AI & Data
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Badger Technologies announced yesterday that its shelf-scanning robots will be roaming the aisles of Woodman’s Markets throughout Wisconsin and Illinois come the end of the year.

According to a press release sent to The Spoon, the robots will “monitor product availability, verify prices and deliver precise location data for more than 100,000 items at each location.” The plan is for the robots to be present in all 18 Woodman’s locations by the end of 2020.

The last time we wrote about Badger was January of 2019, when Ahold Delhaize ordered 500 of them for its GIANT/MARTIN and Stop & Shop stores. Those robots however, were being brought on to detect spills and other messes. (The robots didn’t even clean those up, they just alerted staff when there was a mess.)

Unlike that previous use case, Woodman’s, is using Badger’s robots to help automate inventory management. Woodman’s is far from the only store using robots for this purpose. Giant Eagle and Schnuck’s stores use Simbe Robotics’ Tally robot. And Walmart expanded the use of Bossa Nova’s shelf-scanning robot to 300 locations last year.

Pre-COVID, robots in grocery stores were seen as a threat to human jobs. Retailers like Walmart typically defended the increased automation because robots can do the manual, repetitive tasks — like monitoring inventory on store shelves — faster and more accurately than a human. Badger claims that its robots can detect out-of-stock items with more than 95 percent accuracy, and incorrect or mispriced products with 90 percent accuracy. Additionally, robots can work all day without getting and don’t need to take breaks.

During and post-COVID, however, those labor arguments may be shunted to the side as retailers and customers alike seek to cut down person-to-person interactions. Robots don’t get sick, don’t cough and can be easily sanitized by wiping them down.

Another argument in favor of more robots could be more accurate, real-time inventory data for stores and customers. With a robot roaming the aisles providing more precise item stocking information, retailers can better manage product flow and provide more accurate inventory data for people shopping online (which is happening in record numbers).

Robots are having a bit of a moment, thanks to this pandemic. Elsewhere today, online grocer FreshDirect announced a robot-powered micro-fulfillment center that is being built out by Fabric. With the coronavirus surging and re-surging around the world, robots and automation are likely to continue their march into retail throughout the rest of this year and into next.


Related

Schnuck Markets to Deploy Simbe Shelf Scanning Robot to All of its Locations

Schnuck Markets announced today that it will be deploying Simbe Robotics' Tally shelf-scanning robot to all of its 111 locations across the U.S. This builds on the existing agreement between the two companies, which currently has Tally bots in 70 percent of Schnucks stores. Simbe's Tally robot is an autonomous…

Walmart to Stop Using Bossa Nova’s Shelf-Scanning Robots

After touting their efficiency and effectiveness for years, Walmart has decided to stop using Bossa Nova'a autonomous shelf-scanning robots to monitor inventory, according to a scoop in today's Wall Street Journal. Almost exactly three years ago, Walmart announced it was deploying Bossa Nova's 'bots to 50 stores. At that time,…

Schnuck Markets Expands Use of Tally, Simbe Robotics’ Shelf-Scanning Robot

Missouri-based regional grocer Schnuck Markets announced today that it is expanding its use of Simbe Robotics' shelf-scanning Tally robot. Tally will be rolled out to an additional 46 stores, bringing the total number of Schnuck locations using the robot to 62. Tally is a tall, autonomous robot that roams store…

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