Amazon is scaling up automation in its supermarket businesses with the help of Fulfil, a Khosla Ventures-backed startup that has mastery over robotic warehouse technology. It was reported that the collaboration came with a pilot project at a Whole Foods location in a Philadelphia suburb, where a micro-fulfillment center will be added to the store for greater product variety.
The micro-fulfillment center will deploy end-to-end robotics systems from Fulfil-a San Francisco company that came out from stealth mode in February 2023, a week after raising $60 million in funding. The company will design the technology to allow the retrieval and packaging of grocery items, thereby expanding the inventory staple to include the common products that are not found in the stores, including popular brands generally excluded by the retailer’s strict “No List” on some ingredients.
Speaking at a conference in Nashville recently, Anand Varadarajan — who runs product and technology for Amazon’s grocery business — screened a video of Fulfil’s robots in action. The video showed robots retrieving all manner of items and getting them ready for customers to collect; however, the demo did not reveal Fulfil’s technology.
While the company hasn’t confirmed using systems from the Fulfil group of companies, it said that it continues investing in a number of the technologies in pursuit of efforts to improve operational efficiencies. The company will continue where Fulfil’s earlier engagement was with Lucky, a California-based retailer and Amazon grocery delivery partner.
It appears that Fulfil is recruiting engineers and operators to work out of the company’s facility in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania-that is home to the pilot-whom Amazon expects will be operating a year from now, capturing the online orders placed through the website and Amazon Fresh customers for pickup at the store.
It is the initiative that is fashioned towards ridding the consumers of the trends of shopping at various grocery chains to streamline shopping. For the past seven quarters, the unit of Amazon’s physical store has remained dormant despite an expected increase in sales.
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