AndyVision robots might spell end of retail assistants

Are robots slowly but surely taking over the whole world? That does seem to be the case from what we have seen in the movies – they might end up subjugating mankind like in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, or they could help us out as droids, ala Star Wars. Researchers over at Carnegie Mellon University are far more practical, where at the Intel Science and Technology Center in Embedded Computing, this bunch of brains on legs have managed to successfully develop a robot which is said to make life a whole lot easier at the supermarket – and also the lives of store owners.

Known as AndyVision, their robot will be able to assist store owners in keeping items in stock, where the robot itself comes with a Kinect sensor, image processing and machine learning algorithms, in addition to 2D and 3D images of products as well as a floor plan of the premises. This mechanized robot will wander around the shop, making sure that those items that are suffering from low lines or are out of stock will be replenished – soon, and alert the store owner of incorrectly shelved items. I wonder whether customers will also be able to pass a pre-fabricated shopping list to AndyVision and it goes through its database, printing out the exact aisle and shelves as to where you can find these items.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Robot learns about body language, Popchilla robot toy might be able to help autistic children,

Carnegie Mellon researchers develop robot that takes inventory, helps you find aisle four

Carnegie Mellon researchers develop robot that takes inventory, helps you find aisle four

Fed up with wandering through supermarket aisles in an effort to cross that last item off your shopping list? Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University‘s Intel Science and Technology Center in Embedded Computing have developed a robot that could ease your pain and help store owners keep items in stock. Dubbed AndyVision, the bot is equipped with a Kinect sensor, image processing and machine learning algorithms, 2D and 3D images of products and a floor plan of the shop in question. As the mechanized worker roams around, it determines if items are low or out of stock and if they’ve been incorrectly shelved. Employees then receive the data on iPads and a public display updates an interactive map with product information for shoppers to peruse. The automaton is currently meandering through CMU’s campus store, but it’s expected to wheel out to a few local retailers for testing sometime next year. Head past the break to catch a video of the automated inventory clerk at work.

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