Showcasing the Future of Shopping and Robotics at CES 2019

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This year’s CES 2019 technology extravaganza provides an opportunity for the world to see the latest innovations in technology in front of an anticipated audience of more than 180,000 attendees from more than 150 countries.

The showcase is a stage where many world-changing products have launched, such as the VCR, 3-D printing, driverless cars, and 4K virtual reality, among others. It’s also a place to see some of the world’s craziest technology—from rolled-up 8K televisions to headsets for meditation and sleep to a vegan burger patty that is heralded as “a triumph of food engineering.”

Robotics and machine intelligence were key topics discussed at the conference, as automation technology is expected to create 58 million net new jobs by 2022. Not only can robots handle jobs that are less desired by human workers, but introducing them into the retail environment allows workers to focus on more complex, customer-facing tasks.

Our IAM Robotics team traveled to Las Vegas with the world’s first mobile piece-picking robot, Elvis, to reveal how robotics is changing the shopping environment.


IAM Robotics at Plug and Play Booth at CES 2019   IAM Robotics at Orbbec Booth at CES 2019
At CES, we had the opportunity be part of the Plug and Play booth as one of the many exciting startups that Plug and Play, a global innovation platform, has supported. Elvis had room to show off his skills by picking items from shelves that attendees selected. In addition, our partners at Orbbec demonstrated the 3-D vision that they worked on with us to create how the robotic arm of Elvis identifies products.

The growing popularity of e-commerce means that consumers will be expecting more same-day pickup and delivery services by retailers. Grocery stores will also be expected to keep up with consumer demand; online grocery shopping is predicted to grow to 20 percent of total grocery retail sales, totaling an astounding $100 billion.

At CES 2019, we created our IAM Ready to Help store to show exactly how robots can help fulfill these types of orders, whether in retail or grocery. Visitors to our booth were able to select an item of their choice, and Elvis would pick it out for them. One attendee claimed excitedly, “This is so cool! I can’t wait to be able to shop like this.”

Having an autonomous robot take care of the monotonous job of picking items allows workers to be more productive with their time, creating opportunities for stores to improve their business in other ways.

Interested in discussing how robots can help businesses prepare for increasing demands for faster delivery? The IAM Robotics solution helps retailers elevate their offerings to create a new shopping experience.