Walmart is testing grocery delivery robots KYLE WIGGERS  2018年8月3日下午3:18 如果您住在新罕布什尔州的塞勒姆，并在沃尔玛在线预订杂货，机器人很快就会向拣货者伸出援助之手。这家全球最大的零售商今天公布了与总部位于马萨诸塞州的零售自动化公司Alert Innovation的合作伙伴关系， 该公司 将看到后者的Alphabot技术部署在2019年连接到Salem超市的20,000平方英尺的扩建部分。 该公司表示，Alphabot系统是专门为沃尔玛开发的，它包括自动推车，可以从存储容器中取出物品并将其运送给店员，他们组装订单并准备店内提货或送货。沃尔玛表示，大多数货架稳定，冷藏和冷冻食品将以这种方式运输，例外情况是生产和“其他新鲜物品”。 沃尔玛向雅虎科技公司表示，大约95％的订单将在不到8分钟内完成。 “在Alphabot的帮助下，我们的员工将有更多的时间专注于服务和销售，他们经常告诉我们的两件事是工作中最愉快的部分，而技术处理更平凡，可重复的任务，”Walmart写道。“虽然这是一个小型飞行员，但我们期待它的大事。” 公告发布，随着在线杂货销售达到历史高位。根据尼尔森进行的食品营销研究所的一项研究，预计到2025年，它们将占到6410亿美元美国食品杂货市场的20％。已经有大约20％的购物者在网上购买杂货，而且多达9 ％的购物者每月购买超过一次。 沃尔玛在1,800家商店提供在线杂货配送服务，并计划在今年年底前扩展至2,000家。 Alert Innovation并不是唯一一家开发机器人技术来应对实体的物流挑战的创业公司。英国超市连锁店Ocado--全球最大的在线杂货零售商之一 - 已经设计出一种使用计算机视觉来转移货物的包装系统。而 Bossa Nova 开发的机器人可以自动导航商店并对货架上的物品进行评估。（沃尔玛是其客户之一。）   If you live in Salem, New Hampshire and reserve groceries online from Walmart, there’s a good chance a robot will soon lend your personal shopper a helping hand. The world’s largest retailer today unveiled a partnership with Massachusetts-based retail automation company Alert Innovation that’ll see the latter’s Alphabot technology deployed in a 20,000-square-foot extension connected to the Salem superstore by 2019. The Alphabot system — which was developed especially for Walmart, the company said — consists of automated carts that retrieve items from storage containers and deliver them to store clerks, who assemble orders and prep them for in-store pickup or delivery. Walmart said that the “majority” of shelf-stable, refrigerated, and frozen foods will be transported this way, the exceptions being produce and “other fresh items.” About 95 percent of orders will be picked up in less than eight minutes, Walmart told Yahoo Tech. “With the aid of Alphabot, our associates will have more time to focus on service and selling, the two things they often tell us are the most enjoyable part of the job, while the technology handles the more mundane, repeatable tasks,” Walmart wrote. “Although this is a small pilot, we expect big things from it.” The announcement comes as online grocery sales hit historic highs. They’re projected to capture 20 percent of the $641 billion U.S. grocery market by 2025, according to a study by the Food Marketing Institute conducted by Nielsen. Already, about 20 percent of shoppers purchase groceries online, and as many as 9 percent purchase them more than once a month.