The automatic grocery store is already operational
On July 8th, the ceremonial opening of an automatic grocery store, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, took place in Sośnicowice. This is the result of a project in which the Silesian University of Technology was one of the consortium members.
This is the second machine developed as part of the iZMS project, i.e. Intelligent Automated Store Warehouse. The first was a self-service website located at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Silesian University of Technology. The project started in 2020 and was co-financed by the National Centre for Research and Development. The project was carried out by a consortium led by HemiTech sp. Z o.o., and one of the partners of Silesian University of Technology.
The development and construction of the automated store was carried out in cooperation with the Dino supermarket chain. The opening took place at the supermarket's headquarters in Sośnicowice.
- We already know examples of autonomous supermarkets without sales staff, where the customer picks up goods from the shelves, pays for them and leaves. We wanted to create a fully automatic store solution in which a person does not need to go inside to make purchases, said Michał Pajączek, president of HemiTech. - In the case of an autonomous store, you should remember that you need to make sure that the customer pays for the goods. In the case of an automated store it is different. The customer must first pay to receive the goods. In addition, we make maximum use of the space inside our store. We also focus on saving money - there is less space to heat, there is no need to light it, we do not have to clean inside. The device also independently forecasts the next possible sale and sends an order to the central warehouse for missing products.
On the part of the Silesian University of Technology, employees of the Department of Fundamentals of Machinery Design took part in the project: Prof. Dr Hab. Wojciech Moczulski – project manager on behalf of the University, Dr Eng. Wawrzyniec Panfil – head of research and development works , Dr Hab. Eng. Piotr Przystałka, prof. SUT, Dr Eng. Krzysztof Ciupke, Dr Eng. Paweł Chrzanowski, Dr Eng. Sebastian Rzydzik, M.Sc. Eng. Daniel Pająk and M.Sc. Eng. Rafał Osadnik. Our scientists were responsible for substantive support.
- We have prepared software supported by artificial intelligence methods, which is used primarily to determine the inventory of an automated store. Using this software, we are able to determine what goods should be included in a given sales period and how many of them should be in order to meet customer expectations as much as possible. At the same time, we try to maximize the profit from sales - explains Dr Eng. Wawrzyniec Panfil. - Participation in the project shows that our scientific work finds practical application. We deal with algorithms and artificial intelligence every day, and this time we can see and use them device we worked on creating.
The main assumption of the project is that the store will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- The store contains products that each of us knows, which we do not have to touch or familiarize ourselves with. These are, for example, milk, a packet of chips or drinks. People don't have to see them up close before purchasing them. This made it possible to condense products on the shelves inside the device, which increased its capacity and the number of items we included in it - explains Łukasz Wawrzyńczyk, project manager at HemiTech. - The purchasing process looks similar, as in the case of an online store. We have product categories on the screen. After selecting those that interest us and adding them to the virtual cart, we proceed to payment. After paying for the purchase, the machine completes the products, which we can track on the second screen, places them in the basket, and then the customer receives them.
The goods in the automatic grocery store will be changed depending on, for example, the current season or upcoming weekends, holidays and holidays.
