Walmart Reportedly Cancels Program To Deploy Shelf-Scanning Robots Walmart has canceled its contract with robotics technology provider Bossa Nova Robotics, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal. Reasons for the cancellation reportedly include the following:

• The company has found other, often simpler solutions that work just as well.
• Due to increases in order pickup and delivery, Walmart has more workers in store aisles who can detect inventory issues.
• John Furner, President and CEO of Walmart US, mentioned potentially negative customer reactions to seeing an autonomous robot traveling down store aisles.

About 1,000 Shelf-Scanning Robots Originally Planned; 1,800 Floor Scrubbers Planned As of February 2020, Walmart had 350 shelf-scanning robots deployed in its stores, with plans to deploy another 650 in stores by the end of the summer, according to a separate article in The Wall Street Journal. Separately, Walmart had deployed floor-scrubbing robots—supplied by Tennant Company—in 300 stores as of April 2019, with plans to deploy them at an additional 1,500 locations, according to an article on Chain Store Age. These robots run the BrainOS operating system authored by Brain Corp. Sam’s Club, Walmart’s warehouse club chain, plans to add 372 of these robots with the goal of equipping 599 clubs, according to an article published in late October in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. [caption id="attachment_118601" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Shelf-scanning robot
Source: Bossa Nova [/caption]   Implications for the Robotics Industry The news is a major setback for the shelf-scanning robot category, including Bossa Nova and its competitors. Bossa Nova reportedly laid off half its workforce upon the contract cancellation. Vendors of shelf-scanning robots now face the hurdle of demonstrating the value of their platforms in the wake of the Walmart contract cancellation.