Walmart expands use of robotic floor scrubbers
Walmart is expanding its use of autonomous, self-driving floor scrubbers as part of its wider efforts to use technology to automate a variety of low-level, repetitive tasks across stores.
The scrubbers, which are currently deployed some 300 stores, are being added to 1,500 additional locations. Walmart’s partners in the venture include Tennant Company, which is providing its T7AMR (autonomous mobile robot) floor cleaner.
The cleaner is equipped with Brain Corp.’s self-driving operating system, BrainOS. The system has the capability to navigate autonomously, avoid obstacles, adapt to changing environments, manage data, generate reports, and seamlessly interact with end-users and other robots.
“This cleaner is another great example of technology helping make the Walmart job better—rather than riding on a floor-cleaning machine for several hours, the associate is now working with robotics to complete their duties,” said John Crecelius, Walmart senior VP of central operations. “The machine allows our associates more time to focus on completing other tasks within the role, but most importantly, it frees them up to serve our customers better.”
The robots operate “collaboratively alongside Walmart associates by utilizing a simple and intuitive ‘teach and repeat’ approach, which allows associates to easily deploy the machine and adjust cleaning routes as the environment changes,” Brain Corp said.
For more on how Walmart is integrating robotics and AI into its daily operations, click here.
The scrubbers, which are currently deployed some 300 stores, are being added to 1,500 additional locations. Walmart’s partners in the venture include Tennant Company, which is providing its T7AMR (autonomous mobile robot) floor cleaner.
The cleaner is equipped with Brain Corp.’s self-driving operating system, BrainOS. The system has the capability to navigate autonomously, avoid obstacles, adapt to changing environments, manage data, generate reports, and seamlessly interact with end-users and other robots.
“This cleaner is another great example of technology helping make the Walmart job better—rather than riding on a floor-cleaning machine for several hours, the associate is now working with robotics to complete their duties,” said John Crecelius, Walmart senior VP of central operations. “The machine allows our associates more time to focus on completing other tasks within the role, but most importantly, it frees them up to serve our customers better.”
The robots operate “collaboratively alongside Walmart associates by utilizing a simple and intuitive ‘teach and repeat’ approach, which allows associates to easily deploy the machine and adjust cleaning routes as the environment changes,” Brain Corp said.
For more on how Walmart is integrating robotics and AI into its daily operations, click here.