• by Chuck Martin , January 13, 2020

The National Retail Federation Big Show opened in New York this week as a showcase for the latest technology being pitched for retailers to adopt.

As in past shows, there were robots that scanned the aisles checking inventory, all kinds of connected shelving and the promotion of various levels of artificial intelligence within products.

Numerous displays on the expo floor included cameras using facial recognition software to locate and categorize shoppers, primarily by demographics.

About 40,000 attendees are expected to attend the annual show at the Javits Convention Center, which is housing more than 800 exhibitors.

For self-checkout, various solutions were shown, such as the system by Walk Out that uses cameras to track items as they are put into a shopping cart.

Different approaches to inventory tracking varied, ranging from the tall robots by Badger to drones by Gather.