Retail

BearRobotics Abuela400x275Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant has announced that its Rogers, Ark., location has deployed a Servi hospitality robot from Bear Robotics in a pilot program designed to give human servers a helping hand and more time to interact with guests. The restaurant chain said it is exploring the Servi’s ability to improve guest satisfaction, increase efficiency and help retain restaurant staff in a tight labor market.

 

AmazonDrone400x275Amazon has announced that customers in Lockeford, Calif., will be among the first to receive Prime Air drone deliveries in the U.S. later this year.

 

BadgerVallarta400x275Badger Technologies, which develops retail automation solutions, has announced a pilot program with Vallarta Supermarkets, a chain of 53 full-service markets throughout California. The grocery chain will test Badger’s multipurpose autonomous robots to identify hazards at five Vallarta Supermarkets in Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, as well as testing the robot’s inventory management at a sixth location in order to improve on-shelf product availability.

 

LG CLOI Guide400x275LG Business Solutions USA has announced a multi-purpose customer service robot, the LG CLOi GuideBot, designed to provide wayfinding, enhanced security, advertising opportunities and data on interaction times and usage. The robot includes a friendly digital face, responsive voice activation and two large touch-screens designed to improve customer experiences in places such as museums, convention centers, movie theaters, and hotels.

 

MisoFlippy2 Wings400x275Wing Zone, a fast-casual restaurant brand that makes made-to-order chicken wings, has announced a partnership with Miso Robotics. The agreement will include Miso’s Flippy 2 robotic system a part of the standard build for all future restaurant locations – making Wing Zone the first fast-casual brand to include food robotics into its operations at this level.

 

WalmartDrone AR 400x275Walmart has announced it plans to expand its DroneUp delivery network to 34 sites by the end of the year, with the potential of reaching 4 million U.S. households across six states – Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. The retailer said the expansion would give them the ability to deliver more than 1 million packages by drone in one year.

 

TeksboticsSaudiArabia400x275Hong Kong-based Teksbotics has announced it started a pilot of last-mile autonomous delivery in the King Abdullah University of Science and Technologies (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. It has partnered with Alshrouq Express for the project, which aims to design and build a cost-effective autonomous delivery vehicle for the last-mile delivery of e-commerce orders.

 

NowRX 400x275NowRX, a technology-powered pharmacy looking to provide same-day prescription delivery and telehealth services, has partnered with Hyundai Motor Group to explore the use of new solutions in the delivery of prescription medications, including autonomous vehicles.

 

BerkshireGrey BGFlex400x275Berkshire Grey, which develops artificial intelligence-enabled robots to help automate supply chain processes, has announced the general availability of its next-generation mobile robotic platform, BG Flex.

 

SaviokeSeaview400x275Savoike, which develops secure and contact-free service robots for room service and other deliveries, has announced that Seaview Investors LLC has added the company’s Relay Service Robot to each of its hotels. 

 

ConciergeRobot400x275As pandemic mitigation measures have extended into community settings around the world over the past two years, so too have robot helpers. We are now increasingly seeing facility managers deploying robots in commercial and residential buildings, schools, airports, railway stations and more to help keep communities safe. 

 

ABB Selfridges400x275Industrial robot manufacturer ABB is demonstrating the future of retail with a 3D printing demonstration at Selfridges, one of London’s premier department stores on Oxford Street. Throughout April, the demonstration in a window display shows an ABB robot 3D printing a variety of personalized designer objects made from Parley Ocean Plastic – intercepted marine plastic debris collected from Parley’s Global Cleanup network.

 

PuduMarchLaunch400x275China’s Pudu Robotics, which develops commercial service robots, held a new product launch in Shenzhen, introducing four new robots. Under the theme of “3+X”, the company announced three delivery robots – SwiftBot, PUDU A1 and PUDU D1 – and a new cleaning robot, the PUDU SH1.

 

BearRoboticsServi400x275Bear Robotics, which develops hospitality robots and artificial intelligence solutions, has announced raising $81 million in a Series B funding round. The company said it will use the funding to add new products and expand into new markets around the world.

 

BrainInventoryClean400x275Robotics World recently spoke with Josh Baylin, vice president of product and marketing at Brain Corp., about the latest advances in autonomy, the future of multi-task robots and multi-robot deployments, and the need for interoperability.

 

RoboAds RA 200 400x275RoboAds, an artificial intelligence robotics startup that has developed “the world’s first advertising robot,” has announced its latest version - the RA-200.