Emerging of robotics in retail industries

A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the award of degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

By
Kiran Nogia
MBA/2021/4323

Submitted to
Dr. Bhumija chouhan

DEPARTMENT OF MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF
INFORMATICS AND
MANAGEMENT

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 2021-2023

DECLARATION
I, Kiran Nogia, student of II Semester MBA, bearing enrollment no. MBA/2021/4323, hereby
declare that the mini Project entitled “Study On emerging trend of robotics in retail industry has
been carried out by me under the supervision of Dr. Sandeep Vyas submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Business Administration
by the Department of Master of Business Administration, International School of Informatics
and Management during the academic year 2021-23. This report has not been submitted to any
other Organization/University for any award of degree.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 
I would like to thank Dr. Aparna Mendiratta Chairperson of International School of Informatics
and Management for providing good infrastructure and management facilities to develop and
improve student’s skills.

I sincerely express my gratitude to the college Principal Dr. Manju Nair for supporting the
students in all their managerial activities and giving guidance to them. I would like to thank Dr.
Kavaldeep HoD, Department of MBA, International School of Informatics and Management
for granting permission to undertake this project. I would like to express my gratitude to the
project guide Dr.Sandeep vyas. for giving all the instructions and guidelines at every stage of
the Project work.

I thank all the staff members of the Department of Master of Business Administration, for
extending their constant support to complete the project. I express my heartfelt thanks to my
parents and friends who were a constant source of support and inspiration throughout the
project.

Name- Kiran Nogia

En. No.- MBA/2021/4323
Signature-

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE NO.
1 Introduction 5
2 Fantasy becomes reality 12
3 How robotics is transforming 20
3.1 Walmart
3.2 Amazon
4 Advantages by robotics 35
4.1 Walmart
4.2 Amazon
5 Challenges during implementation of 43
technology
5.1 Walmart
5.2 Amazon
6 Conclusion 50
Reference

LIST OF FIGURES

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE NO.

3 3.1 Robotics pattern of walmart 27
3 3.2 Amazon delivery robots 30

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Innovation-based companies are increasingly using AI and connectivity to enhance ‘robot

technology’ making robots more advanced than ever, and one industry which is increasingly
finding use for and adopting robots – both at the backend and in-store, on the front end – is
Retail.

Historically, retailers have been incorporating robots and robotics in distribution, warehouses
centers and manufacturing units, to assemble, pack and ship orders. However, as technology
advances, a new generation of robots is graduating from back-end operations and becoming a
reality in retail stores, interacting with humans at store fronts. Retailers are using robots in a bid
to relieve their retail associates from the more mundane tasks of retail and ensuring that their
focus shifts to customer-facing activities instead.

Today, many top national and international retailers have started putting robots on the retail
floor. They have either started testing or are in the process of testing a new line of robots that
audit inventory even as they share store aisles with customers.

New navigation and cognitive abilities have enabled robots to become more agile and take on
more tasks, from moving products at distribution centers to helping direct customers around the
store. They are new trend greeting customers with polite smiles, fetching items for them from
shelves and even advising them on fashion choices. Sometimes they simply meander through
aisles, taking stock of inventory.

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The robots are coming! It sounds like a tagline for a science fiction film, but we need only look
as far as the retail industry to see the truth in this statement. Robots have been with us for a while
in retail, and technology powered through AI and machine learning to incorporate the voice of
the customer to transform how retailers make product and pricing decisions is something I’ve
been advocating for years. Amazon and many retailers are operating robots behind the scenes to
help with inventory management. Wal-Mart is building its robot army as well, and according to
this ABI Research release, the company deployed 350 systems for inventory management across
its stores in 2019 alone. That’s an average of roughly one robot for each store.

As retailers look to trim costs and streamline operations, particularly along the supply chain,
robots are only going to become more entrenched in retail’s day-to-day operations, taking on
greater roles and interacting with employees and consumers alike as AI becomes smarter. By
2025, more than 150,000 mobile robots will be deployed in brick-and-mortar retail
establishments, according to estimation by ABI Research. And robots’ work will certainly not be
limited to warehouses.

The newest models of robots are already getting upgrades, and are coming equipped with
machine vision algorithms able to capture and analyze images and video and respond
accordingly. New technology is enabling them to analyze and interpret unclean areas and clean
by themselves, understand when customers enter the store and greet them, and take photos of
new cartons, analyzing items in the box and moving them to the right shelves.

Robotics is a branch of engineering and science that includes electronics engineering,

mechanical engineering and computer science and so on. This branch deals with the design,
construction, and use to control robots, sensory feedback and information processing. These
are some technologies which will replace humans and human activities in coming years. These
robots are designed to be used for any purpose but these are using in sensitive environments
like bomb detection, deactivation of various bombs etc. Robots can take any form but many of
them have given the human appearance. The robots which have taken the form of human
appearance may likely to have the walk like humans, speech, cognition and most importantly
all the things a human can do. Most of the robots of today are inspired by nature and are known
as bio-inspired robots.

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Robotics has revolutionized retail throughout every step in its operations from production, postage,
fulfillment, and the customer journey. As robotics becomes more technologically advanced and
begins to incorporate more complex aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) such as machine learning, it
becomes not only a useful cost-cutting tool for efficiency-seeking retailers but also an indispensable
aspect of customer experience.

2020 was rough on everyone, but the retail stores suffered a crushing blow. According
to Fortune, more than 12,000 stores went bankrupt during the Covid crisis. This little virus put
millions of people out of work. However, e-commerce was flourishing. This sector of the retail
industry experienced booming growth in 2020. The internet remained the only place where
people could shop during the lockdown. Experts say that Covid-19 accelerated the existing
process of digitizing, making it hard for offline stores to compete. Many people believe that e-
commerce will do the same thing to offline stores that online streaming services did to
Blockbuster Video. So, we will see massive competition between online and offline shopping in
the next several years. 
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers were under pressure to keep up with rapidly
evolving supply chains and customer habits. Not only have payment methods and support
services changed, but inventory and logistics functions are also shifting. These developments are
encouraging both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce companies to look to artificial intelligence
and robotics in retail. From groceries and consumer electronics to apparel and pharmaceuticals,
all retail sectors are hyper-competitive today. Both online and physical stores are seeking greater
levels of efficiency, customer satisfaction, and employee retention. For robotics developers and
suppliers to serve these needs, they need to understand how their software, sensors, and hardware
designs will be used. The market for robotics in retail is just starting with the biggest companies
first, so providers must avoid costly missteps and prepare both for scale and eventual adoption by

smaller retailers. Safety and ease of use are key to designs that will be successful. Robotics has
revolutionized retail throughout every step in its operations from production, postage, fulfillment,
and the customer journey. As robotics becomes more technologically advanced and begins to
incorporate more complex aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) such as machine learning, it becomes
not only a useful cost-cutting tool for efficiency-seeking retailers but also an indispensable aspect of

customer experience..

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1.1 Robotics in Retail Depends on Software, Data

Retailers such as Amazon.com and Wal-Mart are already using mobile robots in their
warehouses and retail stores for functions including inventory scanning, materials handling, and
cleaning. For automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to be
useful, they need operating systems and data-collection and data-analysis tools that are robust
and compatible with existing retail systems.

Autonomous service and delivery robots are poised to better serve – and possibly save – retailers.
Some industry analysts have predicted that robotics in retail will be involved in more than three-
quarters of logistics operations, with McKinsey estimating that autonomous vehicles will make
up 85% of deliveries by 2025.

This report primarily looks at Amazon.com as an example retailer, Brain Corp as a software
provider, and Bossa Nova Robotics as a hardware supplier of robotics in retail.

Retail robots help to improve customer engagement, gives a personalized experience, thus
enhancing customer satisfaction. The ability of retail robots to cater to customers personally is
driving the growth of the market. The application of robotics to one or more of these processes
increases the efficiency of the operation promoting business growth. Through the use of retail
robotics, retailers are able to carry out tasks such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs stock,
processing, and analyzing large amounts of information. Ability to track customers lead to the
eventual capability of retail robotics to gather information on the demand of various products,
thereby enabling them to make more informed decisions. The logistic industry, as a result of the
e-commerce revolution, faces a shortage of labor, while the need for more rapid parcel shipments
that too with a huge variety of different packing is on a rise. The use of robots in logistics is still
at a nascent stage and yet to make any significant impact, however, it is a real option to combat
the challenge of labor availability in the industry.

For retail businesses that are just starting to introduce technologies into their business, the initial
cost of retail robots can be high and therefore seem off-putting. Security and data privacy for

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retail robots deals with both safe data storage and consent management as well as protection of
the data from hackers. Keeping data from being exploited and keeping systems from being
corrupted is a major concern for companies, especially when it comes to storing information of
the customer. Data privacy, therefore, acts as a restraint for the market.

Top 10 Applications of Robotics in Retail

Data collectors

Robots in the retail industry are well-known as data collectors in this data-driven market. These
collect more real-time consumer data as well as data of products on respective shelves efficiently
without any potential error. Consumer data includes consumer buying behaviour, taste and
preference, demands, and many more that can drive accuracy in inventory management.

Autonomous shelf monitoring technology

Autonomous shelf monitoring technology leverages robots to move around retail stores and
capture images of shelves and aisles at different times. Then these robots digitize the images and
provide in-depth accurate insights of potential out-of-stock shelves and a list of products needed
to reshelve again for customers to purchase from the particular store. It can detect sudden and
unexpected shifts in inventory without any human intervention.

Retail assistants

Robots act successfully as retail assistants to customers in several retail stores. Customers can
ask these robots about the place to find any specific product, details of any product, and many
more without any hesitation. Retail assistants can drive customer engagement and customer
satisfaction with full-time customer-friendly support efficiently and effectively. Customers prefer
quick response in this fast-paced busy life to decide which product to buy. 

Warehouse robots

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Warehouse robots are not meant for roaming around stores to help customers. This robotics
application helps to deliver inventories within warehouses without breaking any fragile product.
It consists of thermal as well as haptical sensors to measure temperature and perceive touch
respectively. The transportation system with robotics in large warehouses has saved a lot of time
for employees to focus on other work.

Cleaning robots

The retail industry is harnessing cleaning robots to make stores clean and dry for providing a
clean environment to customers. Cleaning robots can detect spills or smelly vomit and clean it up
before it becomes a problem to customers in stores. These robots can also detect debris to keep
retail stores clean for the utmost hygiene.

Shopping robots

Multiple retail stores and supermarkets are deploying shopping robots to accelerate the
fulfillment of multiple online orders of customers. These shopping robots help to find the correct
container for parcels by going around storage bins. Then the robots bring it to human employees
and this creates a hybrid work environment for the successful delivery of online orders without
breaking any fragile product.

Security robots

The utmost security is highly crucial for retail stores and warehouses to protect a diverse range of
products. Security robots have multiple tasks to look after in their areas. These robots roam
around warehouses and stores to check all doors and window locks as well as a monitor in
security camera coverage. It helps in under-staffed duty times and reaches locks that are difficult
for human employees to reach.

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Shopping support robots

Some consumers may need assistance with buying products in large retail stores. Thus, shopping
support robots are present to help these customers by carrying a shopping cart with them. These
robots provide shopping support after observing head, body, and purchasing

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CHAPTER 2
ROBOTICS IN RETAIL FANTASY BECOMES REALITY

As Amazon and Google engage in an intense rivalry over Echo and Alexa vs. Google Home, the
Internet of Things (IoT) revolution is set in motion and is guaranteed to take on the world by storm.
Robotic advances are progressing just as rapidly. Our world is poised to come alive with robotic
activities, akin to a Toy Story–like scenario, where robotic devices powered by artificial intelligence
(AI) will be able to do our chores behind our backs. This has now become a reality in the retail sector,
where robotics is being increasingly used to track inventory, gauge customer satisfaction, streamline
checkouts, remove snags in supply chain pipelines, and deliver products to the customer. Here, we
describe a handful of robotic advances in the retail sector within the last few years that are
dramatically changing the way shopping outlets conduct business worldwide.

Artificial intelligence and robots are changing the nature of customer

experience in retail sectors across the board

A large majority of technologies described here are controlled by powerful AI-driven computer vision

technology. This technology involves utilizing a large amount of preassembled data and a then
superimposing it on machine learning programs, pattern recognition capabilities, and training
algorithms in order to “mathematically teach” robotic cameras to recognize spatial inconsistencies
(identify misplaced objects in an inventory, for example) and discern facial features (e.g., determine
like or dislike of a product based on a smile or a scowl).

Robots can overcome logistic constraints and enhance the customer

experience 

Don’t you just hate it when you walk into a Walmart looking for some obscure product and it takes a
long time to find it? To solve problems like these, early last year Walmart deployed shelf-scanning
autonomous robots in 50 stores across the country. These six-foot robots purchased from Bossa Nova
Robotics march up and down the store aisles, scanning them for misplaced products or incorrect
prices and then inform store employees of shelving errors. The idea behind this endeavor is to squeeze
critical time from mundane shelving tasks, allowing the regular sales employees to engage with the

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customers and assist them in finding desired products quickly within the labyrinth of aisles that exist
in Walmart. According to Jeremy King, the chief technology officer for Walmart, these robots are
50% more productive and three times faster than their human counterparts.

Building on this success, Walmart is also testing other robotic technologies as well. A prime example
is DASH, a robotic shopping cart that is being developed in partnership with Five Elements Robotics,
with a goal of streamlining inventory management and assisting customers in carrying merchandise
across the store. Some other advances from the retail giant that could simplify the delivery of
groceries include flyer drones and Waymo self-driving cars.

Following closely behind is Target, which is currently toying around with Tally, a similar shelf-
scanning robot that the retail giant recently acquired from California-based Simbe Robotics.

In contrast to Wal-Mart and Target, which seem to be jumping on the robotics bandwagon only
recently, Lowe’s began deploying LoweBots – personal shopper robots that speaks multiple
languages and will fetch a tiny 2-inch screw within thousands of home improvement products sold at
Lowe’s – back in 2016. Best Buy’s Chloe deployed a year earlier in a Manhattan Best Buy branch
located in Chelsea, New York, was used to achieve 24/7 gadget pick-up services for its tech-savvy
clientele.

The fashion retail sector is not too far behind in embracing this revolution. Zara, the Spanish retail
giant, is systematically complementing its BOPIS (buy online, pick up in store) methodology with
“click and collect” robots, which scan backroom inventories and put the products in easily collectible
drop boxes at the front end of the store.

A Inspired by the success of Kiva’s deployment in 2014 of robots that saved Amazon almost 20% in
operating expenses by efficiently retrieving products from its mammoth warehouses, the company
recently launched Amazon Go stores. This masterstroke promises to disrupt the retail sector forever.
These cashier less stores allow you to check in by scanning your app, bag your products, and then
simply walk out as the AI-powered technology seamlessly bills your card behind the scenes when you
pick the items off the shelves. This shopping experience, which Amazon adorably refers to as the

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“Just Walk Out” technology, is predicted to grow by more than 3000 stores and surpass a market
value of $4 billion by 2021.

Robots can be used to gauge customer experience

Despite this automation, the mantra of success in the retail sector is, and will always be, pleasing the
customer. This invariably requires measuring customer satisfaction. Recognizing the potential of
robots for enthralling customers and increasing foot traffic in malls, many retail industries are toying
with the idea of using Pepper, a cute semi-humanoid robotic creature that was launched by the
Japanese company Soft Bank Robotics in 2014.

The robot’s capability to understand and respond to four basic human emotions has been put to work
recently by various retail stores to cajole customers and gauge their satisfaction. Besides serving as a
welcome distraction for male shoppers stuck shopping with their significant others, the robot can
accomplish tasks such as talking with customers, collecting user surveys, answering basic questions,
and giving directions. The prime example is Nestle, which commissioned more than 1000 Pepper
robots to assist customers in locating coffee machines. Japan, Europe, and Singapore have been more
welcoming, having embraced the technology wholeheartedly with more than 10,000 Pepper robots
currently stationed in retails stores across these countries. Robotics in the retail sector is here to stay.

2.1 Robots: Revolutionizing Retail

Robots have replaced humans to an extent that they are performing the same tasks more
efficiently by reducing errors and saving both time and costs, thus increasing productivity and
profit margins. Anything a man can do a robot can do 10 times more effi ciently and
consistently.

The retail industry introduced robotics in their functioning only after 2003. While still not an
integral part of all roles in the industry, robots have maximum utility in 3 basic functions in the
industry.

“The same garment a human will cut manually in 30-45 minutes, a machine will do in a matter
of 2-3 minutes. If we talk about garment construction, manually a tailor takes 3-5 hours to stitch

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a basic shirt, wherein an automated machine will complete the task in a matter of 30 minutes at
the most. This automation and digitalization will increase supply chain productivity and greatly
improve the fashion industry’s sustainability performance “Increased and speedy production will
automatically result in increased profi ts. Since production time will decrease by 80 percent it
will be far easier to launch new trends, and at a much faster pace. As soon as a trend is
introduced on the runway, it will be seen in the stores the next day. Things will become a lot
easier. With automated 3D Design Software, there will no longer be the need to generate a copy
of a design every time, thereby reducing sample costs,” she adds.

Robots Provide That Human Touch

The retail industry has historically been a consumer-facing industry and traditionally, brands
have followed a ‘one size- fits-all’ way of functioning in terms of customer servicing. However,
with the introduction of robotics technology and advanced AI mechanisms, the industry has
found a way to provide personalized and customized services which will truly help in future
transformation.

“Robotics will definitely make things more organized, creative and efficient. The sole purpose is
not to steal away human jobs, it’s more about completing jobs which were not being done before
due to lack of activeness and saving companies from the significant financial losses inventory
management problems cause. Productivity will increase and so will sales. And it will
automatically lead to growth of the business. The problems of inventory management, sales
records, customer handling will improve. It will create a world where nothing is impossible to
achieve,” says Bajaj.

“Make no mistake, technology resets consumer expectations. With pervasive technology like
robotics, it is much easier to address individual needs,” adds Naviin Ibhrampurkar, Head of
Marketing and Corporate Communications, Inorbit Malls.

Robotics is impacting the industry in multiple ways – more customer handling in parallel than
any executive can handle, and increased customer satisfaction levels due to crisper issue
identification and resolution.

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“We have seen almost 35 percent improvement in customer issue resolutions post bot usage. The
customer care team can now invest the same time in more pro-active efforts for customer
engagement, than reactive resolutions,” says Neha Kant, Co-founder and CRO, Clovia.

Although the concept of automation is still at ground level, once that has been accomplished, the
future of retail will see new heights in terms of perfection, accuracy and efficiency and
scalability.

“Automation also enhances customer’s shopping experience, while generating greater user
engagement. There is less need for advertisements and marketing since consumers are attracted
to a personalized shopping experience provided by automation,” Bajaj explains.

“This kind of technology has witnessed great acceptance in the industry and we predict that
soon, it will become a norm to have robots service customers at retail outlets so that actual
personnel can focus on creating experiences for customers.”

Retailers can see this adoption of robots as an opportunity for the advancement of their
businesses and to become more efficient if they want first mover advantage for that edge over
competitors. However, as with every technology there comes an associated cost, there have been
huge investments going into the adoption of robots, whose benefits are expected to translate over
the years, by making businesses more cost effective eventually.

“In the near future, everything has the potential of coming under robotics umbrella. From the
lighting system in the store to the PoS (Point of Sales) system etc. It connects people, machines,
items, and services to streamline the fl ow of information, enable real-time decisions, and
heightens consumer experiences,” says Baqar Iftikhar Naqvi, Business Director – Retail and
Consumer Products, Wazir Advisors.

“Retailers who have made provision of large budgets in order to take robotics innovation in-
house, are expected to see real world benefits in near future,” he adds.

2.2 Areas of Operation

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Robotics in the past have a proven to be useful and a vital part of supply chain automation,
helping streamline these otherwise complicated networks.

The world’s first industrial robot was shaped for only the purpose of shifting objects from one
place to another. Today, most tasks that are vital to the supply chain, like the movement of
products through a warehouse, are done by robots.

“In the current scenario, robotic technology or robots are playing a major role in each and every
aspect of retail like enabling better coordination among warehouses, helping in logistics and
management with minimal error. Robots are believed to enhance customer experience and
upgrade brand value by providing outstanding services. The stores nowadays are equipped with
automated machines helping and guiding customers, refilling shelves, moving kiosks, etc.
basically providing in-store customer service and bringing store to the customer virtually.
“Robots are also used for inventory management – from shelving to tracking products,
maintaining expiry, delivery, order records, warehouse operations to make the process less
tiresome and more efficient along with after sales services like delivery, handling customer care
support and grievances through call centers.

Presently there are many problems in the manufacturing industry like there are problems in
getting timely deliveries which can be reduced by 90 percent with automation, and then comes
perfection. Even the most skilled labor cannot provide us the consistency the industry needs.

“So, going ahead, one can say robots will be most useful the field of manufacturing. The
production time will be drastically reduced. The time and hard work that goes into stitching and
then final checking will become a lot easier. If from fabric cutting till packaging all the work will
be done by robots, it will automatically get reduced to 99 minutes, where earlier it was supposed
to be 12 hours starting from cutting till finishing.

2.3 Robots v/s Retail Associates

Increase in cost of human labor has exhorted many retailers to move towards automation or more
advanced level of technologies which includes replacing human labours with robots. This
adoption of technology has resulted in many retailers cutting down their costs by a huge margin.
For instance, Amazon which has successfully cut down their costs by 20 percent due to
introduction of robots, stands as a testament to benefits of robots over retail employees. This

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reduction in costs is ultimately going to result in providing products to customers at a better
value.

“Robots can also free people of the need to perform dangerous and arduous tasks or take charge
of certain simple and even complicated and repetitive activities, performing them better than
humans.

“With ever-increasing warehouses and distribution centers, there has been a spike in demand for
skilled workers. For example, in the US, it is estimated that warehouses and distribution centres
will need more than 5 lakh workers by 2020. But in a country which is already labour strapped
and with not enough skilled workers, robots are proving to be a better alternative to fill the gap.
Delivery services, food retailers etc. are all experimenting with robots, drones and self-driving
cars in order to reduce on their delivery time as well as high costs, “he adds.

Robots also help in attracting and engaging customers, ensuring that they visit the same outlet
again and again mostly because of the novelty and sense of futuristic experience they bring with
them.

“The application of robotics has brought in higher efficiency in the functioning of the restaurant
in terms of shorter wait time for customers, lesser time for food preparation or even smoother
serving of the order.

Going ahead, robots will also be able to provide a more personalized shopping experience. They
can lift heavy materials, act fast, learn 10 times faster than a human brain and make no mistakes.

“A robot will not get sick, will not leave the company under any circumstances and will show the
same level of dedication and consistency in their work throughout. This will make the
dependency that we today have on our employees zero. With the technology of brain mapping, it
will be easier to read a person’s mind- scanning its preferences, style and personality. At times,
humans can only guess but a robot will give 100 percent accurate result, thereby, giving them
exactly what they need,” states Bajaj.

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2.4The Future of Retail Associates

Customer satisfaction is the most important aspect of any retail business. A retail associate is
responsible for improving engagement with customers and providing outstanding customer
service but when it comes to professionalism, robots take the lead.

“Robotics also reduces the time and investment that goes into training the employee and the
losses that retailers have to incur when the same employee is not able to perform well,” shares
Bajaj.

Recently, many large retailers have replaced personnel with robots to serve customers and give
them that unique shopping experience.

“However, we believe that the role of such personnel will not completely disappear due to
introduction of robotics but that job functions may evolve over the years. Now, with robots to
take care of mundane tasks such as answering queries and guiding customers through the store
layout, associates can focus more on necessary activities in the retail industry..

With the entry of robots, employees need to move higher in the order and take up jobs which
involve more creativity and personal interaction eventually contributing directly in the
development and scaling up of the business. Rather than being slaves to technology, retail
associates can be the masters of their customer management skills and become brand
ambassadors of the product.

“The use of technology to bring about efficiencies in retail may drive job losses, but at the same
time, they may introduce new types of workers as stores become less about concluding
transactions and more about creating a good customer experience. Stores in the future are
expected to be staff ed with sales associates and their role will be like a personalized consultant
for each customer with basic jobs like billing etc. will get robotized.

Resonating the same thoughts, Ibhrampurkar shares, “One without the other will lead to a sub-
optimal solution. The key is to integrate both and derive a cohesive experience.”

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CHAPTER 3

HOW ROBOTICS IS TRANSFORMING

Robots were once confined to a manufacturing setting with a highly controlled environment and
predetermined, repeatable movements. But over the last few decades, robots have evolved
dramatically and can take on new applications outside of the factory with far greater variability
in their environments.

The retail industry provides a challenging setting for robots, but in recent years there’s been a
surge in robotic applications in retail. The introduction of robots in retail, whether in the store or
behind the scenes, promises to transform the retail industry forever.

Autonomous Mobile Robots in the Warehouse

A vital component of a successful retail business model is the ability to efficiently move goods to
and from stores. Consumers today demand the option to return items at their convenience and
expect items to always be available at the store. Retailers without a robust logistics operation will
not satisfy their customers.

Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in the warehouse are bringing major efficiencies to retail
warehouses. AMRs ensure the quick and accurate flow of goods within the warehouse, which is
critical for managing the flow of reverse logistics and prompt delivery to stores.

The accuracy, efficiency and productivity that AMRs deliver can have reverberations throughout
the whole organization. Retailers that can cut operational costs while improving service are
better positioned to compete with the rapid rise of e-commerce.

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Retail Robot Applications on the Horizon

While AMRs are an important part of the retail industry, there are many other applications that
are being implemented today or are just around the corner. Many of these don’t include behind
the scenes work like AMRs do – they involve directly engaging with customers.

Current and potential robotic applications in retail include:

 Security and loss patrol

 Point of sale

 Customer engagement and entertainment

 Inventory management

 Cleaning

 Traffic measuring

 Facial recognition and loyalty

There are many ways that robots can be used in retail. Often, these solutions require autonomous
robots that can safely navigate a store while performing other tasks to facilitate sales within the
store.

While robotic applications in retail are still in their infancy, robots promise to transform retail
forever, bringing new levels of efficiency and autonomy.

3.1 WAL-MART (BOSSANOVA)

Wal-Mart is enlisting the help of robots to keep up with a surge in online orders. The company
said Wednesday that it plans to build warehouses at some stores where self-driving robots will
fetch groceries and have them ready for shoppers to pick up in an hour or less.

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Wal-Mart declined to say how many of the warehouses it will build, but construction has started
at stores in Lewisville, Texas; Plano, Texas; American Fork, Utah; and Bentonville, Arkansas,
where Wal-Mart’s corporate offices are based. A test site was opened more than a year ago at a
store in Salem, New Hampshire.

Wal-Mart hopes the warehouses will speed up curbside pickups, where orders are brought
outside to shoppers' cars. Both options became increasingly popular as virus-weary shoppers
avoid going inside stores. At the start of the pandemic last year, Wal-Mart said delivery and
pickup sales grew 300%.

The company said the robots won't roam store aisles. Instead, they'll stay inside warehouses built
in separate areas, either within a store or next to it. Windows will be placed at some locations so
shoppers can watch the robots work.

The wheeled robots carry crates of apple juice, cereal and other small goods to Walmart workers,
who then bag them for shoppers.

Rival Amazon uses similar technology in its warehouses, with robots bringing books, vitamins
and other small items to workers to box and ship.

Walmart said the robots save time since employees don't have to walk store aisles to find items.

Workers will, however, have to go into the store to pick out fresh groceries, such as meat, fish
and vegetables. They'll also have to grab TVs, vacuum cleaners and other large items that are too
large for the robots to carry. 

Customers move stuff around, people steal things, and sometimes product falls through the
cracks.

22
These are just a few of the perils goods face in a big-box store. They help explain why the
number of items being shipped to a store does not always equal the number of things that are on
store shelves and being purchased by customers.

These stores are large, and it's hard to keep track of individual items, even when using supply-
chain logistics.

"There is a fundamental challenge in knowing what's in a store and where," Sarjoun Skaff, Bossa
Nova Robotics' cofounder and chief technology officer, told Business Insider in a recent
interview.

Bossa Nova is a robotics startup founded in 2005. Its current signature device is an autonomous
robot that roams up and down store aisles, checking for pricing issues, out-of-stocks, and shelf
irregularities. It can do this far more efficiently and regularly than a human taking stock by hand
can, providing retailers with valuable real-time data.

"I admit to being naive when we first started this," Skaff said. "As we started to build them, we
started to realize the scope, the magnitude of the challenge is enormous."

Essentially, Bossa Nova has built a mini self-driving car with an enormous camera on top that
uses computer vision to see like a human does.

"From a technical perspective, it turns out that the hardware was difficult because we needed the
right imaging and optics in order to simplify the work of the artificial intelligence on the back
end," Skaff said.

He estimated that it took the company one-and-a-half to two years to find a solution that could
scale.

23
Bossa Nova works closely with Carnegie Mellon University, and it is even funding a biometrics
lab affiliated with the school.

"That may sound a bit odd," Skaff said. "But it turns out that the technology is the same at its
core. The way you recognize faces with deep learning algorithms is fundamentally the same way
you recognize product."

The next job was making sure the robots were accurate enough for practical use. Working with
the biometrics lab, the robots are now able to decipher what is on a shelf with "exquisite"
accuracy, Skaff said."We are actually working at scale in stores today, which means that we have
hit the minimum percentage - which is very high - that our customers imposed on us," he said

One of those customers - Walmart - has had Bossa Nova robots roaming its stores since 2017.
The retailer announced earlier this month that it is expanding the number of the robots it will

24
have in its stores by 300, indicating at least some success with it. Walmart was previously testing
the robots in 50 stores."We have worked hand in hand with Walmart to build the product since
2014. They've been really incredibly patient," Skaff said. "This is now bearing fruit. We built
something that they want."

Though Skaff says "customers," plural, to date the company has only revealed the identity of one
of them: Walmart. Skaff says others are currently under a non-disclosure agreement.

These customers aren't buying Bossa Nova's robots, however. Instead, Bossa Nova itself installs,
maintains, and updates the robots in stores, selling the retailers the data they generate as a
service."Today, we joke that we are, on the surface, one startup, but in reality, there are probably
like five startups inside," Skaff said.Not everyone is so on board with Bossa Nova's approach.

"He think the shelf bots [like Bossa Nova's] are good, but they're expensive, and there's much
more effective ways to do it," Steven Keith Platt, the research director of the Retail Analytics
Council and a professor at Northwestern University, said. "They have video cameras, they have
to carry a large CPU to process all that video. And so it makes it extremely expensive."he think,
two years from now, the same function will be accomplished, but with a much different robot,"
Platt added, noting that robots that are modular and can perform many different functions at once
have a better chance of being a net positive for both retailers and robotics companies.Skaff is
undaunted.

"He think as an industry, [retailers] are hungry for data about their store operations," he said.
"They keep asking for more and more and more. So I think we have easily 10 years of innovation
[ahead of us] ... mapping the retail world."

"[Every retailer] has the same problem, and they want the same solution."

Walmart fires store robotics but Bossa nova remains bullish

25
Walmart has ended a contract with Bossa Nova Robotics for six-foot-tall robots that track
product inventory in about 500 of its stores.

Bossa Nova founder and CEO Sarjoun Skaff told Fierce Electronics on Tuesday that he remains
“bullish about the future” and stands behind his company’s technology but did not comment on
the Walmart decision directly.

 “We have made stunning advances in AI and robotics,” Skaff said. “Our retail AI is the
industry’s best and works as well on robots as with fixed cameras. Our hardware, autonomy and
operations excelled in more than 500 of the world’s most challenging stores.  With the board’s
full support, we continue deploying this technology with our partners in retail and in other
fields.”

Skaff added the pandemic has forced Bossa Nova to streamline operations and focus on core
technologies. He would not disclose how many workers have been laid off, but one source
told The Wall Street Journal that Bossa Nova laid off half its staff after the contract ended.   

In a statement, Walmart confirmed it is no longer working with Bossa Nova after partnering with
the robotics firm for five years.  Walmart still plans to use robotics to scrub floors, however.

Partnering with Bossa Nova, Walmart said it “learned a lot about how technology can assist
associates, make jobs easier and provide a better customer experience…We will continue testing
new technologies and investing in our own processes and apps to best understand and track our
inventory and help move products to our shelves as quickly as we can.”Walmart had expected in
January that the Bossa Nova robots would be used in up to 1,000 Walmart stores in the U.S. as
part of a move to more automation.

Unnamed sources told the Journal that Walmart ended the contract with Bossa Nova because it
found different, simpler solutions that proved as useful as relying on robots.  Because of
COVID-19, more Walmart workers were walking aisles to collect goods for orders and finding
insights on inventory shortages. Those workers may eventually be used to monitor inventory
with other automation, the sources said.

26
Also, Walmart reportedly told Bossa Nova that it saw an improvement in inventory control with
the robots, but not enough of an improvement in revenues and other measures.  One premise of
various inventory robots from different manufacturers on the market is that stores will sell more
goods if the shelves are stocked and wanted items are made available. 

Walmart’s decision to change course with Bossa Nova shows how companies need to evaluate
how robots may or may not work well in less-structured settings.  Industrial robots often work in
highly structured settings, such as consistently moving an arm to install a part in a car, but a store
environment is less predictable.

The Walmart experience is “an example of trying to force fit automation in situations where it
doesn’t necessarily make sense,” said Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates. “Robots do
very well in highly organized and standardized environments, but in complex environments with
lots of products and disorganization, people are much more efficient. In those situations, robots
make mistakes or can’t function and then need human invention anyway. So why not just have
people there to begin with?”Some robots are used to replace high-cost employees, but that may
not have been the case with Walmart store employees, Gold said.“Bottom line: even though you
can produce a robot to do something, it still needs to be better and more cost-effective than you
can get with a human doing the same job,” Gold added.

27
 Fig 3.1 Robotics pattern of walmart

3.2 AMAZON

When the tech industry has come up in the 2020 Democratic presidential debates, the most
important discussion topic hasn’t been about breaking up the tech giants; it’s been about the
automation of jobs and the massive impact this is expected to have on the US labor force.

At the center of this debate is Amazon, a company that employees hundreds of thousands of
employees in its massive warehouse network, which is also a company whose investment in
robots and other automation technologies means it could one day be a huge job eliminator, too.

In 2012, Amazon spent $775 million to purchase a young robotics company called Kiva Systems
that gave it ownership over a new breed of mobile robots that could carry shelves of products
from worker to worker, reading barcodes on the ground for directions along the way.

But it also gave Amazon the technical foundation on which it could build new versions of
warehouse robotics for years to come, setting the stage for a potential future where the only
people inside Amazon’s facilities are those employed to maintain and fix their robotic
replacements.

Today, Amazon has more than 200,000 mobile robots working inside its warehouse network,
alongside hundreds of thousands of human workers. This robot army has helped the company
fulfill its ever-increasing promises of speedy deliveries to Amazon Prime customers.

“They defined the expectations for the modern consumer,” said Scott Gravelle, the founder and
CEO of Attabotics, a warehouse automation startup.

And those expectations of fast, free delivery driven by Amazon have led to a boom in the retail
warehouse industry, with entrepreneurs like Gravelle and startups like Attabotics attempting to
build smarter and cheaper robotic solutions to help both traditional retailers and younger e-
commerce operations keep up with a behemoth like Amazon.

28
This robotics race — led by Amazon — will have a seismic impact on the warehouse industry,
which employs more than 1.1 million Americans today. And the rise of these artificially
intelligent robots means there’s likely a day coming when these warehouse robots will be
capable of replacing just about every human task, and human worker.

“The thing that really makes us unique as human beings is our ability to solve problems,” Martin
Ford, author of The Rise of Robots, told me this summer for an episode of the Land of the
Giants: The Rise of Amazon podcast. “Machine learning and related technologies are for the first
time allowing machines to do that and to compete with that capability. That’s really kind of a
game-changer.”

In the meantime, robots have the potential to eliminate some of the most menial warehouse
labor, as evidenced by the Amazon robots that now transport products across massive
warehouses in place of workers who used to be forced to walk the equivalent of 10 or more miles
a day.

That sounds like a good thing, but new research indicates these robots may be increasing worker
injury rates, even though they’re taking on some of the hard labor.

Here’s a look at the good and the bad of the rise of robots inside of Amazon, and a peek ahead at
where this is all headed.

29
 Fig 3.2 Amazon delivery robots

Amazon recently revealed a showcase of new robot it has been working on. Amazon also
revealed that the company currently has over 5,20,000 robotic drive units, which work hand-in-
hand with employees to make the workplaces safer and more efficient than ever. Robotics like
the Proteus and the Cardinal are the latest tech Amazon has been working on and investing in.
Here’s all you need to know about them.

30
Proteus
A fully autonomous mobile robot, the Proteus is capable of automatically moving through
Amazon facilities using “advanced safety, perception and navigation technology developed by
Amazon.” The robot was designed to be used around employees and hence, doesn’t have to be
confined to enclosed areas. This allows the Proteus to operate safely along with employees to
open up a bigger range of possibilities, including the moving around the GoCarts that are used to
move packages through the facility.
“Proteus will initially be deployed in the outbound GoCart handling areas in our fulfilment
centres and sort centres,” Amazon said in a blog post. “Our vision is to automate GoCart
handling throughout the network, which will help reduce the need for people to manually move
heavy objects through our facility and instead let them focus on more rewarding work,” the
company added.

Cardinal
The Cardinal robot is capable of using advanced artificial intelligence to select a particular
package from a pile, lift it and read the label, before precisely placing it on a GoCart to send the
package on the next step of its journey. Amazon says the robot reduces the risk of employees
injuring themselves accidentally while dealing with the lifting and turning of large and heavy
packages in a confined space. The Cardinal is also faster at sorting packages, which contributes
to a faster processing time of packages inside the facility before they leave for their respective
delivery addresses.

31
Currently, in testing for handling packages of up to 50 pounds, the Cardinal is expected to be
implemented in fulfilment centres next year.

Amazon Robotics Identification

Amazon’s third innovation is the Amazon Robotics Identification, or AR-ID, a scanning
capability powered by AR that can use machine learning and computer vision to enable better,
more convenient scanning of packages in our facilities.
Amazon’s tracking system that allows users to track their goods through each part of the
shipment process is dependent on scanning at each checkpoint. The AR-ID makes this step easier
as with it, all employees need to do is pick up a package in front of a scanner and place it in the
next container.
The AR-ID runs at 120 frames per second and automatically captures the product’s unique code
and scans it, eliminating the need for employees to manually find the bar code and scan it with
one hand while holding the package with the other.

Containerised Storage System

Amazon also revealed a new robotic system that eliminates the need for employees to reach up,
bend down or climb ladders when retrieving items. This is possible thanks to the new
containerised storage system. Amazon claims the system is capable of determining which
particular pod has a particular container. The system can then locate the pod, grab it and pull it
out and give it to an employee. This is possible through what Amazon calls “a highly
choreographed dance of robotics and software.”

AMAZON ROBOTICS DESCRIPTION

Kiva Goods to Person robot near  75x60x35 cm.
Payload  450 kilograms (1000 pounds). Speed
of about 5 km/h.
Hercules Similar to Kiva but with 3000 lbs lifting
capacity (near 1500 kg)
Pegasus Pegasus replaces the original Kiva but 19 cm
thiner. Payload 560 kg

32
Pegasus X-Sort Drive Using the Pegasus as the base, different
attachments can be added on top. X-Sort Drive,
a half-meter belt of conveyor, is an example of
such an attachment.
Xanthus Hybrid Robot. Xanthus succeeded Pegasus. In
June 2019, Amazon MARS presented this
robot for the first time. This drive unit can also
carry pods, but it can be used with a variety of
attachments.
Bert Bert is mobile and can navigate the warehouse
with the help of cameras and sensors. It can be
ordered and programmed to transport packages
within a facility by a worker.
Ernie Ernie moves around the stack using a robotic
arm. It lifts totes from the stack to place them
in front of workers. 
Cardinal Cardinal is an autonomous workcell able to
pick boxes and accurately put them into
GoCarts. From here, another AMR like Proteus
can move the cart to next destination.
Proteus The first AMR fully developed by AMAZON
able to navigate safely and collaborate with
humans.
Scooter Scooter is an automated tractor that tows
empty totes around, Kemet specializes in
returning empty totes.
Kermit Kermit is an automated guided cart (agc) with
magnetic navigation where decision points are
tags on the flooor tha indicate if it should
change direction, speed up or slow down as it

33
 travels along. 
Scout Scout is a six-wheeled autonomous vehicle
conceived to perform last-mile deliveries to
your door.
Drones The Prime Air drones can safely deliver
products to customers' front doors. Drones can
transport orders below five pounds (2.26kg).

34
CHAPTER 4
BENEFITS/ADVANTAGES OF ROBOTICS
Robotics is becoming an essential part of the modern retail industry. The modern robots come in
different sizes and shapes, from enormous six-foot-tall free-moving machines to sophisticated
shelf-scanners checking inventory at Walmart. In this part, we talk about the advantages of
robotics in retail stores. 

Customer data 

The main goal of robotics in the retail industry is to get information about the consumer’s
behavior. They use automated shelf-scanners that are connected to the Internet of Things. The
IoT combines all processes, from manufacturing to transportation and retail, into a single digital
ecosystem. When combined with the advanced capabilities of artificial intelligence and machine
learning, the Internet of Things helps to move human civilization into the Fourth Industrial
Revolution. 
Robots in warehouses and retail stores 

Big retailers like Walmart and Amazon use a lot of different robots in their warehouses and retail
stores. These robots do the most straightforward jobs like material handling and cleaning. Using
the robots allowed Amazon to reduce the number of workers and cut the operating expenses by
about 20%. 
Besides that, different companies invested tremendous amount of money into delivery robots.
McKinsey says that autonomous vehicles will perform 85% of deliveries by 2025. 

Robotics use cases 

35
LoweBot changes in-store customer service 

Some use robotics in retail industry to help the customer get additional information or find a
specific product. In 2016, home improvement retailer Lowe’s introduced their project –
LoweBot. 

Technology summary: The customers can activate this robot by speaking or using a touch
screen to find specific items in the store. The LoweBot is capable of answering some basic
questions that customers would otherwise address to a human employee. Besides that, the robot
conducts real-time inventory tracking and accumulates information to help business owners
understand shopping patterns. 
Future applications

 The head of Lowe’s Innovation Labs, Kyle Nel, says that their robot provides immediate value
for short, medium, and long term. However, it has been five years since the first LoweBots, and
we haven’t found any information about the results. Besides that, there is no information on how
much money the company spent. So, an important task is understanding the ROI of this robot in
a retail store. 

Softbank’s Pepper Robot 

The humanoid robot Pepperis one of the most successful implementations of robotics in the
offline retail industry. The 140 Softbank Mobile Stores in Japan use this robot to communicate
with their customers. SoftBank has been working for the past 12 months to bring Pepper to the
U.S. market. 

Technology summary

36
 Pepper is a rather interesting example of robotics used on the retail market right now. You can
program it to interact with customers. The robot can answer questions, give directions, and chat
with people. Besides, the robot can play music, dance, take selfies with people, and light up. 

Future applications

 We can’t deny that SoftBank did a tremendous PR job. Their marketers managed to turn Pepper
into an example of using robotics in the retail industry. This company has a big chance to turn
Pepper into a platform that many businesses will buy. 
However, we haven’t found any reliable data proving that this robot is worth investing in. The
first shop at a Palo Alto tech shop claimed that they experienced a 70 percent increase in visitors
during the week of working with Pepper. The second pilot run at a Santa Monica retail shop
reported a 13 percent increment in revenue and a six-fold increase in sales of a featured product. 

There were no fundamental changes in the business. We need to wait for long-term analytics to
see if Pepper affects customer behavior in the long run. 

Managed compliance 

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investigation, anti-money laundering regulations, reporting, and monitoring requirements. Our
experts develop effective strategies for minimizing manual aggregation, processing, and
structuring of the data. 

Increased efficiency  

We have created a line of service offerings that will improve the efficiency of your business. Our
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37
automating interactions between company advisors and clients. Get a quote on any RPA
technology for free by reaching out to us. 

Improved accuracy 

Every human being can make errors, and process automation is here to eliminate them. Our
programming will ensure the high quality, reliability, accuracy, and consistency of business
data. 

Customer support  

Provide a better service to your clients in the face of continuously growing demands and ever-
changing behavioral patterns. Automation services and solutions will improve employee
productivity and reduce the time for processing customer requests. Moreover, RPA allows you to
avoid mistakes and find information faster

4.1 WALMART..

This is not trivial. Having items incorrectly priced is illegal if the goods have been promoted at a
lower price in advertisements or online. It is also poor customer service. Knowing that a stock
keeping unit is not on the shelf allows workers to stock the item and capture sales they would
otherwise lose.

Recent ARC survey-based research shows average front of store inventory accuracy is 88%. That
is abysmal when you compare it to the 99.9%accuracy you can get in a warehouse using a
warehouse management system and scanning. The poor inventory performance not only leads to
lost sales, it lowers demand forecast accuracy. If the store system thinks an item is in-stock,
when it is not, and the product is not selling, the forecasting engine can decide that a fast-moving

38
item is a slow mover. A rough rule of thumb is that a 1% forecast improvement leads to a 2.5%
reduction in the amount of inventory that needs to be held. That is big money for retail chains!
Poor in-store inventory errors can proliferate and cascade in a manner that leads a retailer's
supply chain to get jerked around. The result is increasing replenishment costs.

On shelf availability can be a metric that improves the inventory accuracy at stores, although it
clearly does not get you all the way to kind of inventory accuracy the supply chain team would
like to see. But Mr. Skaff also points out that increasingly mass merchant retailers are keeping
surplus inventory not just in back rooms, but on the top shelf above the slotted products on the
shelves. They redesigned their robots to be able to identify whether these SKUs were present or
not.

The accuracy of planograms is suspect, but the problem of data accuracy around product
packaging is a magnitude worse. Consumer goods manufacturers are changing packaging all the
time. The brand owner might add a ribbon that says "sodium free" for example and it would not
be immediately clear if this is a new SKU or new packaging for an existing product. Products
from the same company may have subtle differences from one SKU to the next - regular Diet
Coke for example vs. Raspberry Diet Coke. Mr. Skaff said that conventional computer vision
approaches required manual labeling of product images so they can be recognized on the shelves.

Bossa Nova Robotics raised $29 million in new venture funding from Cota Capital, China
Walden Ventures and LG Electronics.

Walmart groceries use Bossa Nova robots, which roam the aisles and scan shelves, to figure out
what’s in stock and what’s selling well.Flex recently struck a partnership with Bossa Nova to
help the start-up manufacture a higher volume of robots.

Bossa Nova robots are becoming a familiar sight in grocery stores across the U.S.

Walmart uses them in dozens of its stores, from Florida to California, for example. The robots
roam the aisles, scanning the shelves to figure out what’s in stock or needs to be replenished, and
which items may not be selling very well.

39
The robots work three times faster and can be up to twice as accurate as humans, according to
Bossa Nova co-founder and chief business officer Martin Hitch. They also free up employees to
do other more pressing work, like helping shoppers find what they need, or keeping inventory
fresh.The San Francisco start-up, which spun out from Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics
Institute, is gearing up to bring its technology even further and wider. The company recently
struck a manufacturing partnership with Flex. They’re also adapting their systems to work for a
range of retailers.

Hitch says Bossa Nova focuses on helping retailers that deal with a high, daily turnover of
inventory, such as: groceries, pet supply stores and big box retailers.

The start-up just raised $29 million in fresh venture funding, bringing its total raised to $70
million. Hitch says Bossa Nova will use the capital for software research and development,
hiring and international expansion.He added, “Mobile robotics can be a great tool, but may not
be the right device to capture information at a smaller format store.” The same “deep learning”
software Bossa Nova developed for use in its robots could be adapted to work with devices like
static cameras, which could work in a pharmacy, or any other store with narrow aisles.

Investors in the new round included LG Electronics, Cota Capital and China Walden Ventures.

4.2 AMAZON

If you’re a tea drinker, you probably look forward to your cup of chamomile at the end of a long
day. If you’re running low on tea bags, you probably count on Amazon Prime to replenish your
supply. And when your caffeine-free fix arrives at your front door, you likely have a handful of
robots (as well as quite a few humans) to thank.

It’s not humans vs. robots, it’s humans + robots

Amazon is providing a glimpse of the future within many of its fulfilment centres, where humans
and robots work harmoniously to get packages to customers on time.Amazon runs 175 fulfilment
centres worldwide. In 26 of them, robots and people work together to pick, sort, transport, and
stow packages. While it’s true robotic automation has taken over certain duties, such as carrying

40
pods of inventory and transporting pallets through buildings, it’s making the lives of associates
easier by performing the less desirable, moretedious tasks.

Amazon fulfilment centres are busy places, with packages and people moving around constantly.
In centres equipped with robotics, employees now lift and walk less. Robots pick up heavy items
to prep them for shipping or for stowage. Employees who help pick customer order are able to
easily identify items, rather than looking for them on shelves.

Products now come directly to employees. It’s great to keep employees focused on tasks where
high judgment is needed. For example, humans can look at a pallet of maple syrup and
understand how best to unpack it. Robots aren’t able to easily detect what kind of liquid is in a
container or if it’s spilled within its packaging. Humans can easily understand what they’re
unpacking and then find a way to safely unpack it without causing damage.

Heavy lifting

Several types of robots are currently “employed” at Amazon fulfilment centres. Palletisers are
robotic arms with grippers that identify and grab totes from conveyor belts and stack them on
pallets for shipping or stowing. Another type of robotic arm, the robo-stow, lifts pallets of
inventory to different levels in fulfilment centres or places them on drive units to be carried to
their next destination. The drive unit itself is a robot that transports packages around facilities.
Currently, Amazon has 100,000 drive units in locations around the globe as well as six robo-
stows and 30 palletisers.

Leading the way

Amazon started using robotics after its 2012 acquisition of Boston-based Kiva Systems, since
renamed Amazon Robotics. At the time, it was Amazon’s second largest acquisition, and a
strong signal of the company’s intent to lead the way in creating collaborative, automated
environments with humans and robots.

41
Since the acquisition, teams of roboticists and engineers have worked closely with associates to
incorporate new technologies to streamline processes, improve safety, and increase efficiency.
Associates are playing a significant role in shaping the future of the company.

The technical teams are working with associates to create and develop this new frontier of
technology. Over the years, some of our best ideas have come from associates, and we believe
this will continue to be the trend. Working with these systems day in and day out, they know
where the gaps are and have great ideas for improvements. Robots increase efficiency and safety
at fulfilment centres. They make it possible to store 40 percent more inventory, which in turn
makes it easier to fulfil Amazon Prime and other orders on time since it’s less likely an item will
run out. As such, robotics make a significant contribution in Amazon’s drive to deliver a smarter,
faster, more consistent customer experience.

Another benefit to robots? Job creation. Since their introduction in 2012, Amazon has added
more than 300,000 full-time jobs globally, including positions in IT and in servicing and
maintaining robots. Plus, the fulfilment centres that have robots often have higher employment
numbers because inventory is moved at a faster pace, which requires extra associates

. 

42
CHAPTER 5

CHALLENGES
Horse-and-buggies and automobiles are static problems: how to get from point A to point B.
Safety, speed, comfort, obviously all factor in — but the underlying goal of each method is
simple transportation. Inventory counts, on the other hand, are not static problems, but rather
dynamic. The goal of counting inventory completely depends, with each use case modifying the
action taken after the count. 

In some cases, inventory counts are static. Regulatory compliance, insurance audits, customers
asking an employee “do you have any toothpaste” — in these cases a correct number is all that’s
needed. But in some crucial cases, something must be done to the inventory after it's counted.
And that entirely depends on what the retailer wants to accomplish. It turns out, humans adapt
much more quickly to these changing purposes than robots can (so far, at least). Fundamentally,
this is why Bossa Nova failed. 

Until AI is advanced enough to both understand and manage these dynamic tasks, and robotics
become nimble enough to perform them, we will not see much change. A human’s ability to
adapt is simply too useful a resource to retailers. 

That does not mean robotics can’t help. Walmart is still toying with the idea of using robots as
floor scrubbers for static tasks like basic hygiene, and other companies like Sam’s Club are
looking into simpler versions of inventory counting robotics. According to a report from
Deloitte, 74% of supply chain managers plan to incorporate robotics in their logistics systems in
the next decade. The real question, though, is whether these robotic implementations will be
adaptive. 

43
In this sense, robotics will be useful only in as much as they support adaptive behavior. For
example, an employee’s ability to log which areas of a shelf are disorganized, and have a robot
sweep over for rearrangement. The key point is that technology is only effective when it can
successfully replace an entire process, or when it fits with and is adapted to the current process. 

5.1 WALMART

Walmart found that online order fulfillment exploded during the pandemic, causing a need for
human workers to grab products for online fulfillment after counting. There’s also the need to
rearrange store layout on a whim, based on expected demand (a practice Japan’s Seven Eleven
has long been employing, to great success). Then there’s the need to remove spoilage. But
current technology simply isn’t at the point where it can reliably discern expiration dates due to
the huge variance in print styles and locations. The best way is still the good old-fashioned way
— either a customer alerts an employee to a spoiled item, or employees comb their shelves and
read them manually. Finally, inventory never stays put; customers constantly move products to
where it doesn’t belong. The Sisyphean task of re-placing inventory customers have moved
would need a fleet of robots dedicated solely to solving this one issue. 

These are only some of the issues. As retailers scale, and technology changes, the need to
physically interact with inventory changes in tandem. And so far, robots simply can’t keep up
with the need to constantly adapt to these dynamic changes. 

Many were surprised when the news broke that Walmart was ending its contract with Bossa
Nova Robotics for robotic shelf scanning and inventory operations in favor of human workers
and software solutions. Early this year, Walmart had announced expanding the rollout of Bossa
Nova systems to one thousand stores.

Walmart claims that humans can do just as good a job as robots performing inventory checks,
especially as an increased number of workers were hired to fulfill online orders. This might be
true during the unusual times of Covid-19 as online orders spiked, although perhaps not long
term. 

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The decision to focus on a retail giant can prove to be the path to dominance. It can also result in
entanglement into a never-ending list of requirements and trials that consumes resources and
drains investment..

Table Stakes

The essential questions remain the same… can robotics systems accurately, repeatedly, and
autonomously (at scale) function in retail stores collecting and processing shelf data to solve real
business problems? These are now table stakes – the keys to measure the success of the robots.
Anything less is a nonstarter.

Larger retailers should now be looked at as technology companies. They must rapidly innovate if
they are to stay competitive. They incubate solutions in their own labs which often compete with
all the dreamy startups that are working on the same problems. By partnering with start-ups,
large retailers position themselves to have the best of both worlds.

Reducing the amount of out-of-stock items, a challenge that the retail sector has struggled over
decades to achieve.

Automation can also reduce labor costs, a critical benefit especially as labor costs continue to
rise and the number of workers available to perform mundane tasks become scarcer. Even the
current higher level of unemployment will not diminish the value of automation.

Another automation advantage is the ecosystem efficiencies gained when near real-time shelf
data is made available and shared with supply chain partners.

Badger Technologies – Early on, Badger proved to be nimble and scaled quickly. Their retail
robotics solution has been functionally expanded from spill detection to include shelf scanning.
The company is scaling up operations, expanding at several grocery retailers with a shelf insights
robot. The backing of Jabil, a large electronics manufacturing company, might prove to be the
key to the company’s overall success.

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Simbe Robotics – Simbe began testing their solution with several retailers globally early on.
The company is   expanding rollouts, including the September announcement of increasing
deployment at Schnucks from 16 to 62 stores. Closing their last investment round in 2019 prior
to Covid19 was very timely.

Zebra – Zebra is expediting the maturity of their robots, and leveraging their wide retail
solution portfolio and business know how to move fast. The company has an established client
base to whom it can offer a compelling solution.

Zippedi – Zippedi has expanded from its sizeable presence in South America, and is now
operating in the US, testing at several retailers and expanding deployment at a tier one retailer as
well. By leveraging their deep retail store experience, and focusing on scaling early on, they
were able to learn and adopt quickly, proving their supplier rollout model in the process, and
methodically expand.

Walmart decision aside, the progress these companies have made is good news, and critical to
their future success. Still, they must be laser focused on maturing their solutions and scaling fast.
It is too late for beginner mistakes as everything is on the line.

Retailers are less forgiving now, especially given the early hype about the technology and rollout
delays. Scanning at scale with high accuracy must be demonstrated quickly. Companies must
also have a solid response to the question all retailers will be asking, namely “What are you
working on next?” Demonstrated capability has to be in tandem with a healthy dose of four key
traits of successful start-ups –  Maturity, Modesty, Courage and Vision.

5.2 AMAZON

Amazon is looking to increase its ability to serve customers from warehouses while reducing its
need to use humans. The shopping giant has been under fire in recent years for working
conditions at its warehouses, from publications such as Gawker and Mother Jones  The workers
have expressed dissatisfaction with the repetitive nature of the work, the long hours and low pay
-- among other problems.

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The company has said that it does take steps to promote worker safety, and perhaps as a part of
it, Amazon is considering using robots to do more of its work. Robots is something that the
company is asking the greater community to help them with, and that was an impetus behind
the Amazon Picking Challenge. Unlike humans, robots don't get tired and aren't subject to
ergonomic concerns.

"Amazon's automated warehouses are successful at removing much of the walking and searching
for items within a warehouse. However, commercially viable automated picking in unstructured
environments still remains a difficult challenge," Amazon wrote on its web page about the
challenge.

The first challenge, according to Amazon, was designed to not be hard, relatively speaking. The
robots would be placed in front of a shelf that didn't have a lot of items on it -- each bin may only
have one thing in it, and some would have several copies of one item. Only a few would have
different tpes of items in it. The competition would take place at the International Conference on
Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

The robots didn't have to look human, but they did have to think for themselves. The scores
would be alloted based on how many items they would pick in a specified time, and if the robots
chose poorly, they would lose points.

"This event should be attractive to members of ICRA and the general robotics community
because it focuses several longstanding technical challenges on a single, clear industrial
application," Amazon wrote. "Moreover, advances in generalized picking will be directly
applicable to other domains, like service robotics, in which robots must deal with a large number
of common household items; picking an item in a warehouse is essentially the same as picking a
book off a shelf in a home."

Amazon also made available a list of the items that teams would be expected to sort, including
links to the individual web pages where the products were being sold. These items ranged from
glue to sharpies to books to garbage cans. The items were designed to be light enough so that a
person of average height (170 centimeters, or 67 inches) could pick them up with one hand.

As for what sort of stocking challenge to expect, the contestants were expected to have a range of
bins that ranged from singles, to doubles, to multi-items. At least two bins would have only one

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item, two bins would have two items, and two bins would have three or more items. Each item
needed to be removed from the shelf into an order bin. The bin would sit on a table either
provided by the organizers or the teams themselves, depending on what the team wanted.

The requirements, challenging as they were, attracted 28 competitors to the competition that took
place at the conference in Seattle in May. To figure out the size and shape of the items, wrote
Engadget, the robots used technologies such as lasers or tape measures.

It was Team RBO that easily took the competition over second-place winner Tim MIT and third-
place winner Team Grizzly. According to Engadget, Team RBO at the Technical University of
Berlin had a 60-point lead over its closest competitor. In this case, team member Roberto Martin-
Martin told Engadget, what made Team RBO stand out was an omnidirectional base that let them
move an arm in ways to let them increase their workable space.

"The arm itself can mimic the actual human limb with its seven degrees of freedom," Engadget
wrote. "It picks things up using a suction cup, which can conform to the shape of different
objects, connected to a vacuum. The team also installed a number of sensors on the robot,
including one for object recognition, another to find the base's position in relation to the shelf
and a third one to make sure the arm doesn't exert too much force when handling items."

Capturing and processing camera and sensor data and recognizing various shapes to determine a
set of robotic actions is conceptually easy. Yet Amazon challenged the industry to do a selecting
and picking task robotically and 28 teams from around the world rose to the competition.

Perception isn’t just about cameras and sensors. Software has to convert the data and infer as
to what it “sees”. In the case of the Amazon Picking Challenge held last week at the IEEE
International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA), each team’s robot was to pick
from a shopping list of consumer items of varying shapes and sizes – from pencils, to toys,
tennis balls, cookies and cereal boxes – which were haphazardly stored on shelves, and then
place their selected items in a bin. They could use any robot, mobile or not, and any arm and
end-of-arm grasping tool or tools to accomplish the task.

It’s tricky for robots using sensors to identify and locate objects that can be confused by
plastic packaging within the shelf or storage area. Rodney Brooks, of iRobot, MIT and Rethink

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Robotics fame, often speaks of an industry-wide aspirational goal regarding perception in
robotics: “If we were only able to provide the visual capabilities of a 2-year old child, robots
would quickly get a lot better.” That is what this contest is all about.

Software has to first identify the item to pick and then figure out the best way to grab it and
move it out of the storage area. Amazon, with its acquisition of Kiva Systems, has mastered
bringing goods to the picker/packer and now wants to automate the remaining process of picking
the correct goods from the shelves and placing them in the packing box, hence their Amazon
Picking Challenge.

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CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

Amazon has developed an unprecedented customer support only in the span of last 15 years with
its unique business model of online business. This not only allows the company to have a cutting
edge advantages over the competitors but also makes it a cost leader in its business. It overpasses
all the supply chains to reach to the consumers through it innovative e-commerce approach. This
allows the company to have a control over its distribution channel and so is able to cut down the
prices of its products. The company hires the distribution channels and warehouses in the areas
where the cost of dumping inventory is extremely low and forward it’s saving to the consumers
in the form of the competitive prices. But, Amazon needs to keep focusing on the research and
development of better and more innovative way of serving to the customer, which will not only
maintains its market leadership in the online business but also allows it to be all time favorite to
millions of its loyal customers around the globe.

By making entry so easy, fast, and affordable, Amazon ensures that many people can sample its
products and become part of the Amazon experience, they also leverage on the possibilities of
the networking economy to reach out to more producers and consumers of products sold by
Amazon. Meanwhile, the Amazon ecosystem facilitates sharing of views and experiences by
consumers in multiple ways. At different times, some products contribute to more revenue than
others, but having them in one ecosystem allows Amazon to tweak offers and handle
administration tasks to succeed in capturing attention, promoting sharing and facilitating a
networking economy.

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From its humble beginnings as an online bookstore run from founder Jeff Bezos garage, to the
wide reaching web marketplace it has become, Amazon has continued to adapt to changing
consumer habits and desires. Through the implementation of Affiliate programs, the company
was able to exploit the willingness of other web sites to share (and therefore advertise) Amazon
content, while evolving the Amazon site itself to create an engaging platform for an ever-
growing community of sellers and buyers.

By addressing the need to create an attention-grabbing e-store, Amazon harnessed the power of
the user driven content which forms the backbone of Web 2.0, transforming itself from a simple
online book retailer to a true online marketplace made up of interconnected businesses and
individuals. Now, with the need for stable and secure data storage, the company has moved from
physical products such as books and CDs, to the fluid world of data hosting and interpretation.

Despite challenges along the way, such as Patent Infringement lawsuits, Amazon has maintained
its reputation and image as one of the worlds most successful, powerful, and expansive online
retailers. One of the main challenges the business will encounter in the near future is that of
competition from real-world stores, who are beginning to match online prices with more
frequency, and offering free delivery. The challenge is that ‘brick-and-mortar stores have begun
matching prices and providing instant pickup… [indeed, a major] flaw at Amazon is shipping
costs’ (Denning, 2015). If Amazon is able to supplement the income used for shipping costs, or
start a sustainable freight system internally, its future as an online retailer offering physical
goods will be assured. And if not, there’s always the data hosting and interpretation, a growth
area in which Amazon is already far ahead of it’s competitors.
Walmart has ended its effort to use roving robots in store aisles to keep track of its inventory,
reversing a yearslong 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 Inc., with
which it joined over the past five years to gradually add six-foot-tall inventory-scanning
machines to stores. Walmart had made the robots a frequent topic of conversation at media and

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investor events in recent years, hoping the technology could help reduce labor costs and increase
sales by making sure products are kept in stock.

Walmart ended the partnership because it found different, sometimes simpler solutions that
proved just as useful, said people familiar with the situation. 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, said some of
these people. The retailer is pursuing ways to use those workers to monitor product amounts and
locations, as well as other automation technology, according to the people familiar with the
situation.

In addition, Walmart U.S. chief executive John Furner has concerns about how shoppers react to
seeing a robot working in a store, said one of these people.

Walmart said in January that the Bossa Nova robots would be in around 1,000 of its 4,700 U.S.
stores. Over the past two years the retailer has said it would bring more automation to stores,
characterizing the machines as robot “sidekicks” for store workers akin to R2-D2 from the “Star
Wars” movies. The Bossa Nova robots were in about 500 stores when the partnership ended, said
a Walmart spokeswoman.

“We learned a lot about how technology can assist associates, make jobs easier and provide a
better customer experience,” she said. “We will continue testing new technologies and investing
in our own processes and apps to best understand and track our inventory and help move
products to our shelves as quickly as we can.”

Walmart continues to use other robots in stores, such as floor scrubbers that move through aisles
alone.

Bossa Nova laid off around 50% of its staff after the contract with Walmart ended, according to a
person familiar with the situation, who said the robotics firm is pivoting toward new clients and
software ventures. The venture-capital-backed company was spun out from Carnegie Mellon
University’s Robotics Institute in 2005. Walmart told Bossa Nova, “We see an improvement

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in stores with the robots, but we don’t see enough of an improvement” in revenue and
other metrics, said this person.

Retailers benefit from having a more accurate view of their inventory because sales rise
when retailers can reduce out-of-stock items, keeping more products available when
customers want to buy them. It also can provide a more precise picture of inventory for
people who order online for pickup and delivery,

REFERENCS

https://www.wsj.com/articles/walmart-shelves-plan-to-have-robots-scan-shelves-
11604345341

https://www.therobotreport.com/amazon-challenges-robotics-hot-topic-perception/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelbarthur/2019/04/14/where-walmart-stands-on-
robots-and-employment-and-what-you-can-learn-from-that/?sh=576f9d224797

https://www.retail-insight-network.com/comment/robotics/#

https://www.agvnetwork.com/robots-amazon

https://www.wns.com/perspectives/articles/articledetail/627/robots-in-retail-driving-
innovation-one-aisle-at-a-time

https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/13/bossa-novas-inventory-robots-are-rolling-out-in-
1000-walmart-stores/

https://emerj.com/ai-sector-overviews/robots-in-retail-examples/

https://www.prescouter.com/2019/04/robotics-in-retail-when-fantasy-becomes-a-
reality/

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https://retailwire.com/discussion/walmart-exec-says-robots-will-seriously-speed-up-
dc-to-store-supply-chain-ops/#:~:text=Walmart%20announced%20earlier%20this
%20week,and%20speed%20than%20ever%20before

https://www.herox.com/blog/348-history-of-challenges-amazon-picking-robot

https://www.supplychainbrain.com/blogs/1-think-tank/post/34675-the-problem-
with-robots-in-retail

https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/12/11/20982652/robots-amazon-warehouse-jobs-
automation

https://diceus.com/robotics-in-retail-use-cases/

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