Walmart and…Robots?

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Walmart has been in the news a few times over the past week or so regarding their investment in robotics and innovation.  I think it’s really easy to get caught up in the “sexy” innovation coming from firms like Tesla and miss out on some real, impactful innovation coming from a retailer like Walmart.  So, I’ll provide a quick walkthrough in this post of the couple robots that caught my eye.

I’ll lead with the innovation that is currently operational today:  robots roaming the aisles in 50 stores around the US.  Walmart has new, robotic employees that roam the aisles of the store three times per day to identify the stock of items, items placed in the wrong spot, incorrect prices, and missing labels.   As the robot identifies issues, it sends alerts to the store personnel to address.

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Alexa Is Laughing…All the Way to the Bank

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Amazon’s Alexa was in the news again this week, but this time for creepily laughing at its owners without any provocation.  Imagine being home alone, after watching a scary movie, and hearing that laugh out of nowhere.

The “always listening” feature of these smart speakers does bring a variety of privacy concerns to mind, and as more homes become voice-enabled it inevitably will lead to the beginning of Skynet.  However, that has not stopped the rapid adoption of the virtual assistant in the US (including by me!).  In fact, Juniper Research predicts that by 2022 over 55% of US Households will have a smart speaker.

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