Now a Remote Controlled Grocery Store on Your Doorstep

Now you don’t even have to step out from the coziness of your home, as the whole grocery shop can reach your door at the click, on an app. Yes, we are talking about the future grocery store known as Robomart. The black and white vehicle, round shaped grocery store is without driver or salesman and is run by electricity.

California based startup Robomart is planning to bring a whole grocery store at your door, so that you can choose your grocery and other items from a wide range of options. Though there are already a number of grocery delivery services in the market, which includes Amazon Fresh, Peapod and Instacart. But Robomart founder and CEO Ali Ahmed describes how Robomart is different from others as he says, his company is not a grocery delivery service. Instead, he says Robomart is an on-demand remote controlled “grocery store on wheels”.

Recently, Robomart has announced its new partnership with grocery store chain Stop & Shop and is going to begin its operation in the Greater Boston area very soon. CEO Ali Ahmed hopes that Robomart is going to partner with other retailers that would lease its vehicles and brand them as their own, which is going to create an option for self-driving grocery fleets.

As he says, “We turned delivery on its head for a number of reasons. You don’t have to spend time ordering online and you get to pick out food yourself, which is the fundamental reason groceries have never flourished on e-commerce. We are making it not only convenient, but the fastest possible way to shop. Even at its fastest, delivery will take up to an hour”.

The Robomart vehicle has the capability to reach a particular location at the speed of 25 mph, where a single customer can summon the mart through an app at their doorstep. Though there is no salesman or driver on board but are operated by people from another location using cameras and navigation systems.

Once the Robomart reaches a house, customers can open the vehicle’s sliding doors using the app, which gives them access to select fruits or vegetables and even hot meals. Meanwhile, computer vision technology can automatically track each item that is removed from the vehicle and accordingly it charges from the customer’s account, emailing them the receipt. The door closes once the transaction is complete. The vehicle, which is about 12 feet long and six feet tall, has the capacity to hold half a ton of goods.