Groceries And Gadgets: The Robots Coming To A Supermarket Near You

Stop & Shop now has big, goofy-looking robots patrolling its aisles. Marty, you see, is a supermarket robot. Marty the robot may take your picture, but his corporate owners say he doesn't want to spy on you. I met Marty in the produce section of a Stop & Shop in Bristol, Rhode Island. Marty roamed the aisles, big, round eyes staring vacantly ahead, searching for spills and other hazards—with electric sensors strategically placed on its tall, rectangular form.

The Expansion of Retail Automation

Marty is at the vanguard of the robot revolution, normalizing automation in everyday spaces. Since January, the northeastern supermarket chain Stop & Shop has introduced more than 200 robots to stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Jersey. This month the company will begin rolling Marty out to stores in New York. By the end of the year, there will be more than 300 robots in Stop & Shop stores and nearly 200 more in Giant stores, another supermarket chain owned by the Netherlands-based parent company, Ahold Delhaize.

Automation Data and Projections

• Stop & Shop: More than 300 robots by the end of the year.
• Giant Food Stores: Nearly 200 robots planned.
• Walmart: Planning on introducing autonomous floor scrubbers to 1,860 stores by next February.
• Estimated Cost: A reported $35,000 per robot.

Labor Challenges and Automation Goals

Marty’s introduction to supermarket floors has raised a number of questions about automation and surveillance for employees and customers alike. The robot roll-out roughly coincided with a widespread Stop & Shop labor strike this spring to protest unfavorable changes to union contracts. In the days leading up to Passover and Easter, more than 30,000 Stop & Shop workers went on strike for 11 days, costing the company between $90 and $110 million. Kristen, a Stop & Shop employee and union member, pointed out the irony of a company telling its workers how broke it was while forking over a reported $35,000 per robot.

Ahold Delieze has explicitly told shareholders that the company is investing in automation and artificial intelligence to supplement or even replace human labor. As the company informed shareholders: “We are partnering on technologies that are not only helping us make the customer experience even more personal and relevant but also operate more efficiently and manage labor shortages in our markets.”

Operational Performance and Employee Feedback

Exciting may be in the eye of the beholder. Marty has just one job: The robot moves around the store and when it encounters a spill or a loose item on the floor, it alerts the staff to come clean it up using the PA system. However, Stop & Shop employees say the robot can’t even do that well. “It’s really not doing much of anything besides getting in the way,” said Kristen. She complained that the robot pages the store nearly constantly, over the smallest things—like a stem from a bunch of grapes—and it will go around in circles until an employee comes to clean the “hazard” up. One Stop & Shop employee told New Food Economy: “Right now he’s a glorified Roomba and he doesn’t even vacuum.”