Discover Amazon GO grocery and some of the technologies behind

Amazon Go was originally a chain of convenience stores owned and operated by Amazon.com. however, a few days Amazon Go has opened its first grocery store (610 E. Pike St, Seattle). Amazon Go motto is "No lines. No Check out."

I have selected two videos that could help us better understand the Amazon Go concept and the technologies behind the scene. The technology has been named "Just Walk Out Shopping." 

This first video introduces the concept of Amazon Go grocery and it reveals a few components of its technology.

(Introducing Amazon Go - Source Amazon.com USA)

This second video show more about the technologies implemented by Amazon.com 

(source Linus Tech Tips on Youtube)

When you enter an Amazon Go grocery store,  Just Walk Out Shopping creates a link between your Amazon account (using a QR code like generated on the Amazon Go mobile application that is captured by the QR code reader of the portal ) and the store's IT system. First, using cameras and image analysis JWOS generates a computerized representation of the shopper (and the persons with him/her). This representation is used to recognize the shopper throughout its journey in the store. This is done with a network of ceiling and shelf cameras. When a person removes an item from the shelves, JWOS uses weight sensors to learn that an item has been removed (or replaced) by the person and had the item into the shopping basket. But the cameras also capture what a person has grabbed. This requires recognizing the item the shopper has put in his/her basket. Some of the items, the one prepared in the store, hold a special labeling system that could be easily recognized by the cameras.

It seems that JWOS is using technologies similar to those used in driverless vehicles (E.g., Lidar). These include Cobots such as the one used by the French Post to help the Postman (see video below).

These robots have also been tested in the fields to help farmers and are already used in factories. Amazon.com is a logistics company. Amazon.con has a fleet of delivery vans and the company is already investing in 100 000 electric vans (consult Amazon blog). So it makes sense for Amazon.com to use in the stores and test the technologies it could possibly use with its new vans later and in its delivery robots Scout (see video below) and drones.

(source Amazon.com)

Finally, Amazon.com collects data in real-time, it can feed into its replenishment system, better learn about what customers like and optimize its assortment and merchandising accordingly. The JWOS  could possibly be deployed into Amazon.com subsidiary WholeFood Market and the store of its partners such as French retailers Monoprix.