• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, April 9, 2019

Following various trials in some of its stores, Walmart is now going all-in on robots.

The mega-retailer is adding thousands of automated assistants to perform in-store functions ranging from cleaning floors to checking inventory on shelves.

Walmart plans to add 300 shelf-scanners, 1,500 autonomous floor cleaners, 1,200 fast unloaders and 900 new pickup towers. Here’s what these devices are scheduled to do:

• Shelf-scanners – Known as Auto-S, the technology roams the aisles and scans items on store shelves to correct shelf location and price accuracy
• FAST unloaders – Working with the shelf-scanners, the unloader automatically scans and sorts items unloaded from trucks based on priority and department, allowing inventory to get to the sales floor more quickly
• Pickup towers – The sales associate loads ordered items into the tower, essentially a giant vending machine where customers can retrieve their purchases
• Autonomous floor cleaners – A machine that can be programmed to travel throughout the open parts of a store, leaving behind a clean, polished floor

“Additional technologies are coming soon to stores across America,” states the Walmart robots announcement. “And we’re going big.”

Indeed.