Forward-looking: Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) are developing a robotic grocery bagging system that could one day show up in your local supermarket. The creation, aptly named Grocery Packing Robot, is currently able to pick up and pack a variety of items spanning different shapes and sizes.
Rather than focusing on speed or packing efficiency, the CSAIL team’s top goal is to ensure its bot doesn’t damage delicate items like fruit or chips.
Using a range of sensors and soft robotic grippers, the bot is able to see items coming down the conveyor belt and determine the best way to grasp them. Tactile sensors on the pads of the grippers measure how hard or soft an item is and create a delicacy score. More robust items are packed first while delicate products get placed into a buffer to be packed later so they don’t get crushed.
Don’t expect to see robo baggers at your local grocery store anytime soon. This project is still in the research stage and seemingly has a long way to go before it is ready for commercialization. Packing speed will certainly have to improve, which will no doubt involve adding additional sensors and improved algorithms to the mix.
There’s also the question of reliability. I don’t know about you, but I run into issues all the time with self-checkout kiosks at stores. Adding yet another machine to the process certainly has the potential to slow the flow of traffic even more, and I can’t image a complex machine like this would be cheap.
Some of the simplest tasks for humans are the most challenging for robots. Bagging groceries could prove that the juice isn’t always worth the squeeze.
What does grocery bagging at your local supermarket look like? Where I live, only one grocery store has enough baggers to constantly meet demand. Another has just a couple that hover between lines, but most leave the task of bagging up to the shopper.
