The "Marty Is Watching You!" Story

Marty waiting in the produce aisle for cleanup.

It was an ordinary day.  Walking the aisles of our local Giant Supermarket when I was approached by someone very unusual.  Guy by the name of "Marty" who had giant eyes and a name tag declaring that he really was "Marty".  The big difference about Marty and the other employees at the supermarket is that he is a Giant google-eyed robot who assists in finding spills and notifying the store office so they can send someone to clean up the spill.  Marty maneuvered past me in the produce aisle and before long he stopped.  Within seconds I heard a voice over the loud speaker telling someone to go to the produce section and clean up a spill.  "Marty" is part of a pilot program initiated by the Giant Supermarket chain located in nearby Harrisburg, PA.  By the middle of the month they expected to have a robot patrolling each of their 172 stores including the eight in nearby Lancaster County.  The robot is said to be an offspring of Cookie Monster and a tackling dummy.  My wife looked at it and moved behind me saying, "now that's really spooky."  It's job, as I said, is to find spills as well as check for other obstructions that could cause an accident in the store.  When it finds a spill it calls the office, posts itself next to the spill and begins flashing its light.  Once the spill is removed, an employee pushes a button and activates Marty once again.  Using robotics and artificial intelligence in grocery stores is a fairly new concept and Giant Supermarket is embracing the idea.  The robots are a partnership between Giant, Ahold Delhaize USA and Jabil subsidiary Badger TechnologiesTM.  The robot is said to be able to do more than check for spills.  It can help keep items in stock and check to make sure the prices are correct on merchandise.  As far as the look of the robots, the giant eyes were added during one of the robot's first in-store tests.  Customers enjoy the looks of the robot which only make noise when they alert customers of a spill.  As for my wife, she still thinks the things are creepy!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.