Don’t be alarmed if you run into a robot at the AT&T store. AT&T is partnering with Badger Technologies for the project. They are planning on having a robot be able to identify any out-of-stock, mispriced or misplaced products in a store, as well as finding store hazards.
The carrier said the retail robots being developed in one of AT&T’s labs require too much data to be used on traditional Wi-Fi and need the better network security and control that 5G connectivity can provide.
“The AT&T Foundry is testing 5G connectivity with Badger Technologies’ robots in a multi-access edge computing (MEC) environment,” AT&T said. “5G using millimeter wave spectrum and edge computing could provide Badger Technologies with the lower latency and high throughput required to process and share vast amounts of data while running concurrently with other in-store network applications.”
Other stores and chains are working on robots for retail too.