After I shared my experience with the creepy grocery store robot earlier this week, Carole let me know that it has a name (it's Marty) and then she sent me this article.
I thought Marty was just some odd, useless addition to a few grocery stores, but my friends, it's much worse than that! First of all, each robot costs $35,000. According to the Stop and Shop website, there are now more than 300 of the robots in Giant and Stop and Shop stores on the east coast.
This store is monitored by Marty for your safety. Marty is an autonomous robot that uses image capturing technology to report spills, debris, and other potential hazards to store employees to improve your shopping experience.
But, Marty doesn't actually clean or vacuum anything himself. When he finds something on the floor, he stops, and announces "caution, hazard detected" in both English and Spanish. I have never witnessed this in person, but I am very tempted to interact with Marty by dropping a celery leaf or stray blueberry on the floor in the produce section. I'm having a hard time believing that they spent $35,000 a piece on something so useless and annoying.
I wonder where they got this dumb idea? (This is from Lost is Space for those of you too young to have seen this fine show in 1965.)
LOL I can't believe they cost that much! I have heard "our Marty" announce caution in both English and Spanish - there is ALWAYS something on the floor in our Giant store. I wish they hadn't gotten Marty but had instead lowered prices.
ReplyDeletehe is disruptive to shopping, that's all I know.
ReplyDeleteI don't shop at Stop & Shop so I've never actually seen Marty in person but Jackie was very afraid of him for a while and it took a LOT of work on Jessica's part to convince him that Marty wasn't scary. I call that an epic fail on the company's part! And then considering the money they spent? Ugh. I'd like Marty much better if he looked and sounded like Robot from Lost in Space!
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you for the follow-up! I hope my grocery store chain doesn't buy a Marty . . . Especially because my local store is quite small and intimate, and Marty would not fit the vibe. (But if they do, I'll be dropping something on the floor to see what happens!) And I just loved Lost in Space when I was a kid. My whole neighborhood used to "play" it, assigning roles to each other and recreating the Robinson's adventures. (We had one kid - Timmy - who LOVED to be the robot.) XO
ReplyDeleteSheesh, for that amount of money, he could at least help clean up the spills!
ReplyDeleteWell, this might not accomplish anything the customer values, but I can tell you from my history in medical litigation that if Marty stops one person from falling and suing, then it would be money well spent. And it is probably a great defense in the case of falls to prove that they are doing their due diligence in keeping the floors free of hazards. A "slip and fall" case in hospitals often costs over 35K to settle. My impression is that grocery stores have scads of these cases every year. You know, everybody sues for everything these days! It's a shame that Marty isn't a more entertaining robot so that customers would find him fun. He is just another example of how the litigiousness of our society drives up costs. (I am no longer boiling water as of last night, so progress has been made here!)
ReplyDeleteI still think there's surveillance capability. I'm not usually paranoid, but this is so weird! That's an INCREDIBLE amount of money to spend on something that has only one function (and a pretty stupid one, too, if you ask me). I'm sure it all boils down to money and there must be a huge benefit somewhere along the line, most likely insurance.
ReplyDeleteI am laughing... I thought "Danger Will Robinson!" When I saw "Marty" last week! Brilliant! Thanks to you and Carole for digging deeper on this one for all of us!
ReplyDeleteYes, it does look like the Lost in Space Robot. There was one of these machines at our local Walmart for a while and I thought it had something to do with sanitation during the pandemic. It is creepy to me and I don't want to shop on the same isle with this guy.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I thought it was watching for shoplifting or something. Always freaks me out when it comes along and I don't notice before it shows up. I then do a dance to get out of it's way. I guess I'm glad I've been doing curbside pickup there instead. I always seemed to end up near Marty.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like he is lurking around every corner when I shop. I went today and thankfully he was being charged and not roaming the store.
DeleteThat is both creepy and annoying. And infuriating. They need to pay their humans more -- not invest in stupid technology.
ReplyDeleteI could hardly believe that someone thought Marty was a good idea for the price. I'd be glad to announce caution in a loud voice and clean up the spills for much less!
DeleteSo creepy! I would much rather have a human walking around detecting spills, seems like a better alternative to Marty.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this was a very well thought out addition to their stores, and you're right, a human would be much better!
DeleteOh my goodness. The company would never pay a person that kind of salary to walk around and clean up spills.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking they could have paid someone a salary for a year and had better or at least the same results and they (the person) would have gone for a mop, not just announce the problem. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I could hardly believe that someone thought Marty was a good idea for the price. I'd be glad to announce caution in a loud voice and clean up the spills for much less!
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