Robots coming to Giant groceries
‘Marty’ should be in stores by mid-year
CARLISLE » There’s a new employee coming to Giant Food Stores’ 172 locations this year — designed to improve in-store efficiencies and free-up store employees to work with customers.
“Marty” is a tall, gray robot with “googly eyes,” that moves around the store unassisted. He is being used to identify hazards, such as liquid, powder and bulk food-items spills and provide reporting that enables quick corrective action.
Marty is equipped with several scanners and cameras to avoid bumping into displays and people, and will politely move out of the way should he get near any customers, according to the company.
For the past year, Marty and the in-store robotic program has been operated as a pilot at stores in Harrisburg and Carlisle.
“Bringing robotics and A.I. from a research lab to the sales
floor has been a very exciting journey, and we were thrilled by the customer response in our pilot stores,” Nicholas Bertram, president, Giant Food Stores, said in a press release. “Our associates have worked hard to bring this innovation to life with amazing partners.”
Once the robot spots something that needs to be addressed, store associates are paged to take care of the issue. If there is a hazard, Marty waits at the location until an associate has removed the hazard.
When Marty comes across a spill, he says aloud, “caution, hazard,” according to Ashley Flower, external communications and community relations manager for Giant.
“During the pilot, we learned a lot about how Marty best worked in our store. We could evaluate how he moved throughout the store — his speed and path for instance,” Flower said, adding that Giant had the opportunity to refine the design, adjust the cameras and the reporting process throughout the pilot phase.
Marty is already a hit with customers in the stores where the robot is currently employed, according to Flower, adding that there have been social media posts and customer selfies with Marty.
No details are available yet about when Marty will make his appearance in Giant stores across the tri-county region, but Flower said the roll-out is expected to be completed by mid-2019.
The in-store robot is the result of a partnership between Ahold Delhaize USA services company Retail Business Services, Giant, and Jabil subsidiary Badger Technologies.
While Flower could not discuss specifics, she said the company is always looking for opportunities to leverage technology and enhance operations, as well as the customer experience.
“Bringing robotics and A.I. from a research lab to the sales floor has been a very exciting journey, and we were thrilled by the customer response in our pilot stores. Our associates have worked hard to bring this innovation to life with amazing partners.”
— Nicholas Bertram, president, Giant Food Stores