To help with the surge of online orders during the coronavirus pandemic, Walmart is enlisting the help of self-driving robots.
On Wednesday, the retail giant announced that it intends to build warehouses in its stores that will house robots programmed to shop. Grocery orders would be ready for pick up in an hour or less.
A test site was set up a year ago in a Salem, New Hampshire store, and the feature will now be added to additional locations. According to the Associated Press, construction has started at stores in Lewisville, Texas; Plano, Texas; American Fork, Utah; and Bentonville, Arkansas, where Walmart’s corporate offices are based.
Unlike in Stop & Shop, you will not see the robots out on Walmart stores’ floors. Instead, the robots will remain inside the warehouses. In some locations, there will be a window so shoppers can watch the robots hard at work.
The robots, which have wheels to get around, carry crates of apple juice, cereal, and other small goods to Walmart employees, who bag the items for shoppers. Workers will still have to go into the store to pick up fresh groceries, such as meat, fish, and vegetables, which will not be stored in the warehouses. The workers will also have to gather items deemed too big for the robots to carry, such as TVs and vacuums.
