Stop & Shop Customers Have First Contact With Robots

BEVERLY, MA — They've been spotted in the Stop & Shop stores in Beverly, Danvers and other Massachusetts communities, and are likely on their way to a store near you. They are robots the company took delivery of earlier this year and there are 500 of them. And no, Stop & Shop says, these particular robots will not take human jobs.

Instead, the robots patrol the aisles looking for hazards like liquid, powder and bulk food item spills. When they find a spill, they alert a human employee to come clean it up and stand by, warning customers to be careful as they make their way down the aisle. The robots, nicknamed Marty, were developed for Stop & Shop parent company Ahold Delhaize by a partnership of Retail Business Services and Badger Technologies.

Each robot costs about $35,000, a price tag that wasn't missed by Stop & Shop workers when they went on strike earlier this year. And while the company has told employees and customers the robots aren't meant to replace living, breathing people, Ahold Delhaize has told shareholders it is looking for ways to automate work to cut costs.

"We are partnering on technologies that are not only helping us make the customer experience even more personal and relevant but also operate more efficiently and manage labor shortages in our markets," the company said in its 2018 annual report. "This includes exciting new collaborations in artificial intelligence and robotics."

Ahold Delhaize isn't the only company rolling out robots in its stores. By next February, Walmart plans to have robotic floor scrubbers in its 1,860 stores.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).