Dive Brief:
- Simbe Robotics has introduced fixed sensor units to monitor products in targeted areas of grocery and other retail stores that augment the company’s Tally aisle-scanning robots, the company announced Tuesday.
- The new equipment, known as Tally Spot, uses computer vision cameras to identify and analyze items in specific zones more frequently than the robots, which traverse the entire store.
- Tally Spot reflects retailers’ interest in technology to enable them to keep a closer eye on products that need frequent restocking or have elevated rates of shrink, Simbe co-founder and CEO Brad Bogolea said.
Dive Insight:
Simbe has built its brand as a supplier of roaming tech that allows grocers to track products across their stores, but Bogolea said the company concluded that stationary sensors would help its artificial intelligence-driven robots provide retailers with deeper visibility into certain segments of their inventory.
The new gear is specifically designed to focus on perishable items like produce, meat and prepared foods as well as on goods especially susceptible to theft, like cold medicine and alcohol, according to Simble. Tally Spot is also intended to help retailers monitor areas like checkout aisles and the bottom of shopping carts, Bogolea said.
For example, retailers can use Tally Spot to focus continuously on a certain shelf and immediately instruct workers to restock goods when they reach a certain level, Bogolea said in an interview.
Simbe, which works with retailers including SpartanNash, Schnuck Markets, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Wakefern Food Corp., is expanding its offerings after raising $50 million through a Series C round in October led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. The new capital increased the amount the retail robotics firm has brought in from investors since its inception to more than $100 million.
Bogolea said Simbe is seeing rising interest from retailers for Tally and doubled the size of its team in 2024 as a result. The company expects to double its staff again this year, he added.
