{"id":2335,"date":"2025-04-30T13:03:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T13:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=2335"},"modified":"2025-04-30T21:58:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T21:58:06","slug":"major-uk-supermarket-becomes-first-to-introduce-human-sized-aisle-robots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/major-uk-supermarket-becomes-first-to-introduce-human-sized-aisle-robots\/","title":{"rendered":"Major UK supermarket becomes first to introduce human-sized aisle robots"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A major change is coming (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next time you head to Morrisons<\/a>, you might notice something – or someone – new among the aisles.<\/p>\n

In a UK first, the supermarket<\/a> is introducing robots<\/a> to help out around the store.<\/p>\n

The ‘Tally’ robots can be spotted in three Morrisons stores – Wetherby, Redcar and Stockton – and will primarily be used to check stock.<\/p>\n

Tally, which comes from US<\/a> tech company, Simbe, can roam up and down the aisles, with no assistance, collecting data. <\/p>\n

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It’s likely to divide shoppers (Picture: Simbe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And don’t worry, it’s clever enough to swerve a human if you cross it’s path with your trolley.<\/p>\n

On LinkedIn, Seamus McHugh, head of European market development at Simbe said he was ‘delighted’ to have Simbe in Morrisons – after already being used in nine countries, including Germany, Portugal and France.<\/p>\n

Last year, the bots – which stand at 5ft 4in (the same height as an average UK woman) – found their way into American grocery chain, Tops. At the time, Scott Kessler, executive vice president of Tops’ parent company said: ‘[It can] check accuracy of prices, check accuracy of promotional tags.’<\/p>\n

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The trial is taking place in three Morrisons stores (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But, he acknowledged that ‘any new technology is a little scary at first.’<\/p>\n

Shoppers in store at the time also said they’d been able to ask Tally where they could find certain items.<\/p>\n

The new AI-tech begs the question then: how will this affect human employees?<\/p>\n

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The tech comes from a US based company (Picture: Simbe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Morrisons told the Grocer<\/a> that Tally will allow more time for real-life colleagues to focus on customer service, but they’re the latest in a long-life of supermarket tech looking to improve on customer experience.<\/p>\n

Last year, Sainsbury\u2019s began testing out larger hybrid self-checkouts<\/a> which featured conveyor belts as well as a bagging area. And in January, M&S began trailing new smart checkouts that calculate how much you owe, without customers (or staff) lifting a finger. <\/p>\n

But shoppers have previously had some choice words to say about in-store technology, calling it ‘dystopian’.<\/p>\n

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Comment now<\/title><span class=\"metro-comment-cta__text\">How do you feel about robots in supermarket aisles?<\/span><\/span><a class=\"metro-comment-cta__button\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\">Comment Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Shoppers-Love-Tally-1e3d.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-23001257\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>It can help staff and shoppers (Picture: Simbe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In a post on Facebook, one user was upset by the idea of missing out on human interactions at the supermarket, saying: \u2018Nope we DO NOT WANT THESE IN OUR SHOPS. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018I would always go to a till with a person, having a small chat with them and asking how they are doing \u2013 everyone has a bad day \u2013 can\u2019t do that with a computer.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>And on X, another shopper lamented the \u2018loss of the friendly interactions,\u2019 adding, \u2018is it worth it?\u2019 <\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Get in touch by emailing <a href=\"mailto:MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk\">MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A major change is coming (Picture: Getty Images) The next time you head to Morrisons, you might notice something – or someone – new among the aisles. In a UK first, the supermarket is introducing robots to help out around the store. The ‘Tally’ robots can be spotted in three Morrisons stores – Wetherby, Redcar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2335"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2335"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2343,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2335\/revisions\/2343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}