Walmart bets on robots. The retail chain will deploy 360 cleaning robots in its US stores. These robots are capable of cleaning floors of shops without the need for a human employee to supervise. In addition, the company is reportedly conducting tests on the Flippy, a robotic kitchen assistant that Walmart plans to deploy to fry food automatically.
Robotics company Brain Corp announces it has signed a deal with Walmart. The US retail chain will implement a total of 360 cleaning robots from the company in its shops. The robots should be active by the end of Walmart's fiscal year on 31 January 2019.
BrainOS
The robots are equipped with an operating system called BrainOS, which enables the robots to operate completely autonomously in shops. With this, the company is automating work that is currently still done manually; employees at Walmart currently polish floors with cleaning machines that have to be operated manually.
With this, the cleaning robots take a lot of work off their hands. Employees only have to manually drive the robots through the shop once, with the robot mapping the shop. After this initial drive, the robot can navigate the shop completely autonomously. The robots can then be put to work by employees at the touch of a button. Sensors detect the presence of people and other obstacles, upon which the robot automatically adjusts its route.
BrainOS is an operating system developed by Brain Corp to make traditional devices smart. The operating system can be applied to existing machines, effectively turning them into intelligent robots. The operating system uses computer vision and AI libraries to independently find its way around an environment. BrainOS is specifically aimed at dynamic environments where the position of objects is constantly changing and new obstacles are constantly being introduced. BrainOS collects data on robots in the cloud, where data can be compared to optimise robot performance, among other things.
Flippy
Yahoo Finance additionally reports that Walmart is currently conducting tests with Flippy, a robotic kitchen assistant developed by startup Miso Robotics. The robot chef is being tested at the shop chain's Culinary Institute and Innovation Centre in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart plans to deploy the robot to provide automated frying of various products in its delis. These include chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks and potato wedges.
In practice, a Walmart employee places a product on a shelf. Flippy identifies which food it is, picks up the product and places it in a frying basket. Flippy then deep-fries the product, shaking the basket regularly to ensure even cooking. After frying, the robot places the frying basket in a draining rack, after which the inner temperature of the food is checked by an employee. This employee then flavours the product using spices, after which it can be sold.
Extra pair of hands in the kitchen
So the robot is not so much meant to replace employees, but mainly to simplify its work. Flippy functions as an 'extra pair of hands' in the kitchen, giving employees more time to take customer orders and prepare other dishes. In addition, Walmart wants Flippy to minimise food waste, increase food safety and ensure a consistent final product. Flippy can operate a fryer as well as a grill in an automated way. Miso Robotics states that the robot is specifically suited for commercial applications and can have a continuous uptime of 100,000 hours.
Flippy is not new. The robot was previously used to fry burgers at a CaliBurger outlet in Pasadena, US. The robot has also previously fried chicken nuggets and potato croquettes at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Brain Corp (pictured)
Source: Yahoo Finance
Source: Miso Robotics
