Grocery-Bagging Robots Getting Better at Tasks
Goodbye smashed potato chips and squished grapes? Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are earning tech industry buzz for developing a robotic system that can effectively pack delicate groceries. The RoboGrocery technology was highlighted in a recent video (see below) shared by MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
“Imagine showing up at the grocery store and not having to wait in line. Imagine a team of helpful robots working side by side with you to help pick up and pack all of the groceries. This is the kind of future we are enabling here at CSAIL,” said Dr. Daniela Rus, director of the CSAIL program and a professor of engineering and computer science.
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Doctoral student Annan Zhang, one of the project leaders, said that this robotic system is customer-centric. “A lot of the previous work in bin packaging has been focused on making good use of the bin space, and others are more focused on speed. We are trying to focus on a metric that people actually care about when we ask them ‘What’s important about grocery packing?’ and that is that delicate items, such as chips or grapes or other fruit are not crushed beneath heavier items," he explained.
To solve that problem, the researchers created a unique robot design featuring soft tactile grippers and fingers and several different sensors that can help identify, sort and pack unknown objects. The soft robotic manipulator can estimate a size and rigidity of a product and pack items in a way that protects products while maximizing bag efficiency.
MIT's CSAIL research was also shared at the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics in April. Although the system isn’t yet available commercially, the researchers emphasize that the RoboGrocery soft robotic system is a promising capability that can enhance the grocery shopping experience.
Along with artificial intelligence and machine learning applications, the use of robotics is helping address challenges in the grocery business. Technology solutions provider Ocado Group, for example, offers robotic technologies that combine computer vision, reinforcement learning and advanced sensing to automate the picking and packaging process; that technology is integrated into The Hive system by Ocado at its customer fulfillment centers.
Elsewhere in the store, improvements are also being made in inventory robots. In early June, for example, store intelligence solutions provider Simbe shared results of a recent survey of store manages showing that its inventory robot, Tally, saves teammates up to 50 hours a week and three out of four managers said that they can better support customers as a result.
