Walmart stops using robots in its stores

The American ‘retail’ chain Walmart has announced that it will stop using robots in its establishments when it sees that the results with human workers are similar.

Walmart started a project a year ago with robotics company Bossa Nova Robotics to gradually introduce robots that track their inventory, with the goal of reducing labor costs and increasing sales by making sure products stay in stock. .

Now the company has terminated the project after stating that it found simpler solutions that were just as useful as using robots, sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

Bossa Nova robots were already in around 500 Walmart stores scanning products to keep track of inventory, according to a company spokeswoman.

However, with the increase in online purchases due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Walmart has had more workers in its establishments to attend requests, who in addition to monitoring the products of the stores, also took charge to replenish supplies when necessary.

For this reason, Walmart has decided to stop using Bossa Nova robots in its stores. “We see an improvement in the stores with robots, but we do not see a better enough,” Walmart told the robotics company, according to the quoted outlet. The company plans to employ human workers with other authorization technologies.

On the other hand, the executive director of Walmart in the United States, John Furner, has claimed to be concerned about how customers react to seeing a robot working in the store.

Tests with other options will continue

“We learned a lot about how technology can help associates, make jobs easier, and provide a better customer experience,” the Walmart spokeswoman said.

“We will continue to test new technologies and invest in our own processes and applications to better understand and track our inventory and help move products to our shelves as quickly as possible,” he added.

For its part, Bossa Nova has laid off about 50 percent of its staff after ending its contract with Walmart, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Source: dpa