Inside Amazon Go
Amazon Go’s smart store means you’ll never have to queue again
While Amazon has revolutionised the way we shop with its online service, the retail giant clearly thinks there is still a future for shopping outside of cyberspace. In January, the first bricks and mortar Amazon Go convenience store opened to the public in Seattle, US. However, unlike any other shop, this one lets you pick up the items that you want and pay for them without having to wait in clogged queues for a cashier. No, we’re not simply talking about self-checkout tills. This futuristic store uses a high-tech surveillance system that Amazon calls ‘just walk out technology’. Using computer vision, hundreds of cameras monitor the store from every angle, allowing machines to ‘see’ what is in front of them and determine what objects are. This allows the store to not only follow the shopper but identify everything they pick up. This is then added to a virtual cart and automatically billed to their account when they leave the store. However, this system is sophisticated enough to also track when you pick up an item (for instance, to consult its ingredients list) then put it back on the shelf. This is because the futuristic store is also fitted with numerous other detecting devices, likely including weight sensors in the shelves. All of the information the store’s many sensors collect is analysed in the same way Amazon Echo recognises voices, with machine learning working over the cloud – harnessing the power of the tech firm’s massive data centres – to calculate your purchases. However, the process is not entirely automated. Behind the scenes, there are still some human employees helping to train the algorithms and double-check they’ve identified the correct products. People are also employed to prepare fresh food items, restock the shelves and to check shoppers’ IDS for buying alcohol.