Walmart has ended its effort to use roving robots in store aisles to keep track of its inventory, reversing a 5 year push to automate the task with the hulking machines after finding during the coronavirus pandemic that humans can help get similar results.
The retail giant has ended its contract with robotics company Bossa Nova Robotics, with which it joined to add 500 six-foot-tall inventory-scanning machines to stores. Walmart had hoped the technology could help reduce labor costs and increase sales by making sure products are kept in stock, reports The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 3, 2020).
Walmart ended the partnership because it found different, sometimes simpler solutions that proved just as useful. As more shoppers flock to online delivery and pickup because of Covid-19 concerns, Walmart has more workers walking the aisles frequently to collect online orders, gleaning new data on inventory problems. It is pursuing ways to use those workers to monitor product amounts and locations, as well as other automation technology.
In addition, Walmart has concerns about how shoppers react to seeing a robot working in a store. It said earlier this year that the Bossa Nova robots would be in 1,000 of its 4,700 U.S. stores, bringing more automation to stores, characterizing the machines as robot “sidekicks” for store workers. (Bossa Nova laid off 50% of its staff after the contract with Walmart ended). Walmart does continue to use other robots in stores, such as floor scrubbers that move through aisles alone.
Classroom discussion questions:
- In Ch. 7, we discuss “Technology in Services.” Walmart discontinued the Bossa Nova model, but what technologies does it still depend on in its stores?
- What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Bossa Nova robots?