RAC RETAIL ROBOTICS INITIATIVE

The goal of the Retail Robotics Initiative is to unite industry, academia, and investors around the common objective of advancing robotic and data applications in retail environments.

RAC RETAIL ROBOTICS ADVISORY BOARD

Pano Anthos

Founder and Managing Director, XRC Labs

Brad Bogolea

CEO and Co-Founder, Simbe Robotics

Jeff Burnstein

President, The Association for Advancing Automation

Jeff Donaldson

CEO, Intriosity, and former CIO, GameStop

Dr. Martial Hebert

Dean, School of Computer Science, Professor, and Director, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

Andra Keay

Managing Director, Silicon Valley Robotics

Dr. John Ostrem

CEO and Co-Founder, AvatarMind

Dr. Marios Savvides

Founder and Director, Biometrics Center and Research Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, CyLab, Carnegie Mellon University

Tim Rowland

CEO, Badger Technologies

Dr. Robert Zhang

Co-Founder and President, CloudMinds Technology

RAC RETAIL ROBOTICS ACTIVITIES

 

Raise industry awareness. Examples include:

  • “Retail’s Robot Revolution,” Stores Magazine, July 2019.
  • “Why is there Robots in my Store,” NRF Big Show Presentation, January 15, 2019.
  • “Robot Radical: Talking about the Future of Retail Robots,” Stores Magazine, April 2018.
  • “Retail Robots: The Next Frontier,” Retail Executive Magazine, January 2, 2018.
  • “Retail Robotics: Potential Applications and the Human-Less Store of the Future,” Journal of Retail Analytics, 4th Qtr. 2017.

 

Industry Conference: RAC Robotics Research Project (meeting October 31, 2019, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL)

 

Other activities:

  • Work with existing and emerging robotics companies to aid them in expanding their business by introducing them to retailers and helping them to secure pilots. In addition, aiding these firms in developing new applications of data.
  • Assist retailers in understanding the benefits associated with implementing robots into their stores and for process automation.
  • Publish research. Currently, we are interested in a test of a robotic RFID project.
  • Sponsor a competition for both existing and emerging robotics companies to present their technology at the annual RAC Retail Robot and AI Conference.

“WHY IS THERE ROBOTS IN MY STORE?”

28 MIN VIDEO

At the NRF Big Show on January 15, 2019, Steven Keith Platt (Platt Retail Institute and Retail Advisory Council) joined Nick Bertram (GIANT Food Stores) and Tim Rowland (Badger Technologies) for an exciting panel discussion.

Details about the event: nrfbigshow.nrf.com

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