Edeka deploys Pepper robot to combat coronavirus

German supermarket chain Edeka has introduced a robot called Pepper to teach customers how to appropriately social distance during the coronavirus outbreak.

And, as you can see from this tweet, it give people what for when they don’t follow the rules.

Boots

In the UK, meanwhile, Nike has lent Boots nine of its cobots (collaborative robots) to help the retailer’s warehouse staff keep picking and packing for customers as the coronavirus intensifies.

Sophie Neary, Director E-commerce & Digital Retail Transformation at Boots UK & Ireland, made the announcement on LinkedIn.

Boots remains open for business during these surreal times as it is considered to be an essential retailer. It has faced criticism for this, with some of its staff telling the BBC this week that they felt "unsafe" at work as customers continued to browse for hair dye and fake tan despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Some stores were still waiting for visors, face masks and gloves for pharmacy workers, others said. Boots stated it was doing whatever it could to protect its staff and customers, including reduced opening hours and closing at certain points during the day for deep cleaning.

Black Friday

Last year, its Burton warehouse employees worked alongside 135 cobots, which helped deliver three million items to customers over the two week Black Friday period.

The robots carried orders between picking stations, cutting down the distance the warehouse teams had to walk.

Alan Penhale, Interim Director of Supply Chain, Boots UK, said: “Our warehouse team absolutely love the cobots. They make the warehouse a calmer, more productive place and are also two to three times faster than manually pushing trolleys long distances, saving our teams from having to walk quite as far.”