Today we “tested” the Amazon Wholefoods store without cash registers, built on the “just take what you need and confidently leave” (Just Walk Out) scheme.
At the entrance, you can authorize via a QR code from the Amazon app or simply by presenting your hand. To authorize with your hand, you must first visit a special kiosk, where biometrics are linked to your account.
We entered the store as a pair. I showed the code, and Nadya followed me. The main question was how the smart store would assign purchases to me when Nadya was the one taking items off the shelf? We periodically drifted to different ends of the store and met again. We tried to confuse the system by passing items from hand to hand, or we would take a kefir and then return to put it back on the shelf.
This particular store has been operational since February 23, but the technology itself has been around for many years, and in the USA, a whole network of Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh has already been opened. I am sure we were not the first to seek ways to befuddle the recognition system, and all trivial situations have long been accounted for in its logic. But deep inside, the tester in me was either singing. Or, I don’t know, crying.
It cannot be said that we completely failed to confuse it. Amazon still charged us for an extra portion of turkey mince. We took one, but it registered two. However, that was the only mistake, and the money was instantly refunded with a click in the app on the “there is an inaccuracy here” button.
The sensations are very interesting. Theoretically, all supermarkets should switch to such a system someday in the future. Because it is very natural and simple, and technologically, as we see, everything is ready. It is not clear what percentage of purchases still require manual processing due to the system’s uncertainty in recognition. One percent? Half a percent? Three? There is no information anywhere. But the direction is set. We shall wait.
Read more on the topic, including about the technology, here:
and https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/21/inside-amazons-surveillance-powered-no-checkout-convenience-store/
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 