Robotic grocery ‘ATM-style’ pick-up system launched

Robotics startup Myrmex recently announced plans to launch its fully automated grocery pickup system to the mass market.

Boosted by the platform’s innovative, patented design, the company claims it has already received a great deal of attention from top EU industry players and is poised to make a significant disruption.

“Customers are increasingly looking digital in the quest for greater grocery shopping convenience,” insisted Founder Ioannis Kanellos.

“Myrmex goes a step further by leveraging the power of mobile robotic units and arm manipulators to deliver online orders faster than ever.”

The past decade has been ripe with innovations that seek to create a better experience for the grocery shopper. What started with platforms like Shipt, Instacart and AmazonFresh has since evolved into responses from brick & mortar leaders like WalMart and Kroger.

However, one undesirable thing that all grocery pickup solutions share is manual operation. This lack of automation keeps costs high and service windows reduced – forcing the customer to pick up items in a tight, preselected time slot.

Possessing deep knowledge of how to leverage robotics to create automated systems, Kanellos shifted his focus away from leading projects with firms like GE and towards a solution to the grocery issue.

The result was Myrmex’s unmanned grocery pickup system – featuring service as convenient as ATM cash withdrawal. With Myrmex, grocery orders are made ready just a few seconds after customers arrive at the pickup point, 24/7.

The system uses mobile robotic units and mini loads around racked roll cages to wheel grocery containers right to the customer.

Its unique design provides 10% cheaper operations costs than the competition, and much more shopper convenience in the form of larger time slots and shorter wait times. And, it’s all fully covered by two US patents.

“Our system’s lowered operational expenses allow grocers to offer it as a free-of-charge service – thus leading to noticeable increases in their online sales,” Kanellos stated.

Myrmex is in contact with Ocado, the world’s leading exclusive online grocer, for early trial runs in their delivery chain. Doing so will mark a big step towards the company’s goal of shipping out systems to global grocers by 2019.