A new wave of robots are now Walmart associates

Photo by Alex Schneck

The unloader robot in the back of the Trexlertown Walmart

Are robots taking over the world? Well not quite.

The Walmart located in Trexlertown, PA is receiving, and gradually implementing, a new wave of robots into the associates’ daily work routines to streamline work and ultimately improve the experience and satisfaction of their customers. The Trexlertown location has received two of the three main robot waves as of early February 2020.

Some may think that this is going to put people out of jobs. That statement, luckily, is not true.

“The ultimate goal of any of it, whether it be self-checkouts, whether it be a top stock thing is again to free up the associates,” Cathleen, Customer Service Manager at the Trexlertown Walmart, said.

The most noticeable robot that the Trexlertown Walmart currently owns can be seen driving itself around and cleaning the floors, so associates don’t have to take the time out to clean the entire floor. Instead, they can focus on more important issues like helping customers find an item or tending to the checkout line.

Behind the scenes, the Trexlertown Walmart also employs a robot that helps the associates in the back receive shipments. A worker on the truck unloads the boxes onto a conveyor belt. Then, the machine scans the box, recognizes what the label says, and can sort the box automatically. Rather than having multiple associates on a single line, now only a handful of associates are required.

The final robot that the Trexlertown Walmart will soon be employing is a robot that drives itself around the store, sees when an item is out of stock on a shelf, pulls the item from the top stock, and restocks the item in the correct location. This eliminates the need for associates to do it all by hand.