7 ms·

There are number of tech companies directly competing in this space: https://standard.ai/ https://standard.ai/ https://grabango.com/ https://grabango.com/ ht

There are number of tech companies directly competing in this space: https://standard.ai/ https://standard.ai/ https://grabango.com/ https://grabango.com/ https://www.getzippin.com/ https://www.getzippin.com/ https://www.v7labs.com/retail https://www.v7labs.com/retail https://www.getzippin.com/ https://www.getzippin.com/ There are competitive options, if you’re in retail you do not have to give Amazon all your “retail data” or use their tech.

arcadeparade 7y ago
Reminds me of this old IBM ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzFhBGKU6HA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzFhBGKU6HA
- tmilard 7y ago
  Yes, IBM "thinks" the future. Other companies build them. Conclusion : ideas are worthless, Execution is key
  - Klinky 7y ago
    >Conclusion : ideas are worthless, Execution is key This was also often the conclusion found during the Dark Ages. ;D
    - krthr 7y ago
      Hahahaha Spanish Inquisition likes this
  - jp555 7y ago
    And in what universe is great execution devoid of ideas? Do you mean to say that doing something well is way better than imagining doing something well?
    - Rantenki 7y ago
      Doing something well means you already imagined doing something well first. Or, in other words, "imagining doing something well" is necessary, but not sufficient to actually do something well.
      - jdc 7y ago
        I mean, you're not wrong, but at the same time whether you call it "imagining" or "coming up with ideas", if done well the results of said process are valuable. Ie. Good ideas are valuable
        necovek 7y ago
        One should also consider that good ideas usually come out of having a lot of domain knowledge in a particular area. And that requires effort and work ("execution" but in the past).
      - Naracion 7y ago
        Coming up with an idea for something, and then sharing this idea with other people in an open manner, can plant the seed that germinates the execution for that idea. To me, that's part of the reason why thought pieces are valuable to me. Also, unconventional tracks at academic conferences, like provocations at DIS 2020 [1] (which I cite here since it's on my mind because I'm personally applying to it right now). [1]: http://dis.acm.org/2020/provocations.html http://dis.acm.org/2020/provocations.html
  - Naracion 7y ago
    May I suggest a rephrasing for that? Execution can bring profit. Ideas might not. History is full of examples of visionaries coming up with ideas that have inspired and fueled others--in some cases whole industries have been founded on these ideas. For instance, Doug Engelbart gave the "Mother of All Demos" in 1968 [1]. It was a proof of concept, but the ideas he talked about were implemented by other companies--who profited from it. It is unfortunate that we live in a world where ideas hold such little monetary value, but they're most certainly not worthless. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY&t=4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY&t=4s
    - ct520 7y ago
      I dunno, makes sense to me. Your idea is worthless to ones self (monetary) if you do not leverage/execute it.
    - blowski 7y ago
      "Ideas are unlikely to have any immediate monetary value until they are executed" is more accurate, but doesn't roll off the tongue so easily.
    - petra 7y ago
      Of course you need both execution and ideas. But let's say you have very good ideas but you're a mediocre executioner. 1. Could you find a very lucrative job/partnership mostly because of your ideas, and get quality help with the execution ? It's possible. 2. Ideas are easy to steal. Do you have a decent strategy to prevent that from happening ? Those sometimes exist. 3. Not every business sucseeds. Can you try repeatedly ? Maybe, depending on context.
  - m463 7y ago
    AT&T had advertisements that said "You Will"... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Will https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Will I was always confused as to why they'd spend money on vaporware advertising, since I don't think they were responsible for doing any of the things.
    - philwelch 7y ago
      Bell Labs was responsible for much of the underlying technology, and these applications had been foreseen. But they were undoubtedly deluded about their ability to deliver those applications.
    - gibolt 7y ago
      To be fair, many of those came to fruition over AT&T's network, until you hit your monthly data and FAX cap
    - mdonahoe 7y ago
      Directed by David Fincher!
    - TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
      "Branding" I get why they spent money on vaporware advertising. But I don't get why there's no modern equivalent. No one seems to be making equivalent statements about technology that's 20-30 years away from today. There are vague hints that AI and QC will somehow be awesome, but they're very light on specifics. It's interesting how we got from the forward-looking 90s to the backward-looking 20s.
freepor 7y ago
But Amazon is going to be the easiest to integrate, which is where Amazon will start, then use the data advantage to improve their product further.
jeffleft 7y ago
Another one: https://www.accelrobotics.com/ https://www.accelrobotics.com/
- Animats 7y ago
  That store looks like a render. There are some fully automated stores the size of shipping containers in Beijing, but they're mostly demos, too. I don't think anybody really has this working well enough to deploy. It has that machine learning "we got to 95%" look. This is something that's easy to almost do, and the last 5% is really tough.
ehsankia 7y ago
nit: You posted getzippin twice I do love how the very first banner video standard.ai shows is how one person passes an item to another. I'm curious to see all the edge cases Amazon Go ran into over the year or two they ran. I can see a lot of messy cases like that coming up.
Animats 7y ago
Do any of those companies actually have a live customer? Not a demo store, a real paying customer with more than one location live? Standard.ai apparently has a demo store in SF, although it's been closed due to the coronavirus epidemic. Grabango - one installation in test at a Giant Eagle store. Getzippin - one installation in test at a Lojas Americanas store. Their site gives the impression that it's really about getting people to install their phone app, so they can be spied upon. v7labs - we're AI, we don't need installations.
- Animats 7y ago
  Found a Grabango video.[1] They did a test for NCR. [1] https://vimeo.com/352588185 https://vimeo.com/352588185
  - exikyut 7y ago
    Wow, I have no idea why but this is 404ing. IA can't tell me what the title was either.
- onefuncman 7y ago
  Qualcomm's spinout Gimbal went broke once so far trying to bring this tech to market, but they're still muddling along.
- HUSSTECH 7y ago
  https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/ https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/ - real customers - real money - multiple-sites Plus they beat Amazon to this concept by a good few months. https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/news https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/news. Granted all the focus/attention in this space is in the US. But it is happening elsewhere too.
  - StrictDabbler 7y ago
    "Beat them to this concept"? I can't even remember the first time I heard about this idea. 2003? 1995? I half-suspect I read about the idea in OMNI Magazine. It's always been a question of when the supporting technology was going to be good enough to make it work. The idea has been around long enough for most of the early patents to expire.
thundergolfer 7y ago
Another one is https://black.ai/ https://black.ai/ All the way down in Australia.
- Animats 7y ago
  They're so cool they don't even have a demo or a video But they can do a large-scale store installation in just days, they claim.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- aetherspawn 7y ago
  I knew the founder of this one in high school.
pixmin 7y ago
https://www.pixevia.com https://www.pixevia.com At PIXEVIA we develop the technology and run a fully working convenience store in Europe.
mzanchi 7y ago
From Brazil, Beholder: https://beholder.tech/en/ https://beholder.tech/en/ Although not yet doing automatic checkout, but most of the technology needed for it is there.
asymptotically2 7y ago
There are also existing cashierless stores in China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QKrHi-G9WQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QKrHi-G9WQ
amelius 7y ago
What are the false-positive/negative rates of this technology? What if I grab two items with one hand, and then put one back? Will the system correctly track this?
- dokem 7y ago
  I think there is an argument to be made of an acceptable increase in false negatives as the cost can be recouped through the efficiency of the system. Not to mention that a system like this should also cut down on theft.
  - amelius 7y ago
    I don't think so, because people will figure out the weak spots and share this information. It will become a sport and people will think "last time I grabbed the milk like this, and they didn't charge me for it, what if I do it again tomorrow?" Hackers will start wearing special clothes with dazzle patterns or with grocery items to fool the system, etc.
    - dokem 7y ago
      What you're describing is no different than the thief mentality that exists today. Most people don't care to steal a carton of milk just because they can. And there's no denying the cost effectiveness of removing your checkout staff or else this tech wouldn't exist.
      - amelius 7y ago
        The difference is that with this kind of stealing the people doing it are not accountable.

arcadeparade 7y ago

Reminds me of this old IBM ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzFhBGKU6HA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzFhBGKU6HA

tmilard 7y ago
Yes, IBM "thinks" the future. Other companies build them. Conclusion : ideas are worthless, Execution is key
- Klinky 7y ago
  >Conclusion : ideas are worthless, Execution is key This was also often the conclusion found during the Dark Ages. ;D
  - krthr 7y ago
    Hahahaha Spanish Inquisition likes this
- jp555 7y ago
  And in what universe is great execution devoid of ideas? Do you mean to say that doing something well is way better than imagining doing something well?
  - Rantenki 7y ago
    Doing something well means you already imagined doing something well first. Or, in other words, "imagining doing something well" is necessary, but not sufficient to actually do something well.
    - jdc 7y ago
      I mean, you're not wrong, but at the same time whether you call it "imagining" or "coming up with ideas", if done well the results of said process are valuable. Ie. Good ideas are valuable
      - necovek 7y ago
        One should also consider that good ideas usually come out of having a lot of domain knowledge in a particular area. And that requires effort and work ("execution" but in the past).
    - Naracion 7y ago
      Coming up with an idea for something, and then sharing this idea with other people in an open manner, can plant the seed that germinates the execution for that idea. To me, that's part of the reason why thought pieces are valuable to me. Also, unconventional tracks at academic conferences, like provocations at DIS 2020 [1] (which I cite here since it's on my mind because I'm personally applying to it right now). [1]: http://dis.acm.org/2020/provocations.html http://dis.acm.org/2020/provocations.html
- Naracion 7y ago
  May I suggest a rephrasing for that? Execution can bring profit. Ideas might not. History is full of examples of visionaries coming up with ideas that have inspired and fueled others--in some cases whole industries have been founded on these ideas. For instance, Doug Engelbart gave the "Mother of All Demos" in 1968 [1]. It was a proof of concept, but the ideas he talked about were implemented by other companies--who profited from it. It is unfortunate that we live in a world where ideas hold such little monetary value, but they're most certainly not worthless. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY&t=4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY&t=4s
  - ct520 7y ago
    I dunno, makes sense to me. Your idea is worthless to ones self (monetary) if you do not leverage/execute it.
  - blowski 7y ago
    "Ideas are unlikely to have any immediate monetary value until they are executed" is more accurate, but doesn't roll off the tongue so easily.
  - petra 7y ago
    Of course you need both execution and ideas. But let's say you have very good ideas but you're a mediocre executioner. 1. Could you find a very lucrative job/partnership mostly because of your ideas, and get quality help with the execution ? It's possible. 2. Ideas are easy to steal. Do you have a decent strategy to prevent that from happening ? Those sometimes exist. 3. Not every business sucseeds. Can you try repeatedly ? Maybe, depending on context.
- m463 7y ago
  AT&T had advertisements that said "You Will"... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Will https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Will I was always confused as to why they'd spend money on vaporware advertising, since I don't think they were responsible for doing any of the things.
  - philwelch 7y ago
    Bell Labs was responsible for much of the underlying technology, and these applications had been foreseen. But they were undoubtedly deluded about their ability to deliver those applications.
  - gibolt 7y ago
    To be fair, many of those came to fruition over AT&T's network, until you hit your monthly data and FAX cap
  - mdonahoe 7y ago
    Directed by David Fincher!
  - TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
    "Branding" I get why they spent money on vaporware advertising. But I don't get why there's no modern equivalent. No one seems to be making equivalent statements about technology that's 20-30 years away from today. There are vague hints that AI and QC will somehow be awesome, but they're very light on specifics. It's interesting how we got from the forward-looking 90s to the backward-looking 20s.

freepor 7y ago

But Amazon is going to be the easiest to integrate, which is where Amazon will start, then use the data advantage to improve their product further.

jeffleft 7y ago

Another one: https://www.accelrobotics.com/ https://www.accelrobotics.com/

Animats 7y ago
That store looks like a render. There are some fully automated stores the size of shipping containers in Beijing, but they're mostly demos, too. I don't think anybody really has this working well enough to deploy. It has that machine learning "we got to 95%" look. This is something that's easy to almost do, and the last 5% is really tough.

ehsankia 7y ago

nit: You posted getzippin twice I do love how the very first banner video standard.ai shows is how one person passes an item to another. I'm curious to see all the edge cases Amazon Go ran into over the year or two they ran. I can see a lot of messy cases like that coming up.

Animats 7y ago

Do any of those companies actually have a live customer? Not a demo store, a real paying customer with more than one location live? Standard.ai apparently has a demo store in SF, although it's been closed due to the coronavirus epidemic. Grabango - one installation in test at a Giant Eagle store. Getzippin - one installation in test at a Lojas Americanas store. Their site gives the impression that it's really about getting people to install their phone app, so they can be spied upon. v7labs - we're AI, we don't need installations.

Animats 7y ago
Found a Grabango video.[1] They did a test for NCR. [1] https://vimeo.com/352588185 https://vimeo.com/352588185
- exikyut 7y ago
  Wow, I have no idea why but this is 404ing. IA can't tell me what the title was either.
onefuncman 7y ago
Qualcomm's spinout Gimbal went broke once so far trying to bring this tech to market, but they're still muddling along.
HUSSTECH 7y ago
https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/ https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/ - real customers - real money - multiple-sites Plus they beat Amazon to this concept by a good few months. https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/news https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/news. Granted all the focus/attention in this space is in the US. But it is happening elsewhere too.
- StrictDabbler 7y ago
  "Beat them to this concept"? I can't even remember the first time I heard about this idea. 2003? 1995? I half-suspect I read about the idea in OMNI Magazine. It's always been a question of when the supporting technology was going to be good enough to make it work. The idea has been around long enough for most of the early patents to expire.

thundergolfer 7y ago

Another one is https://black.ai/ https://black.ai/ All the way down in Australia.

Animats 7y ago
They're so cool they don't even have a demo or a video But they can do a large-scale store installation in just days, they claim.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
aetherspawn 7y ago
I knew the founder of this one in high school.

pixmin 7y ago

https://www.pixevia.com https://www.pixevia.com At PIXEVIA we develop the technology and run a fully working convenience store in Europe.

mzanchi 7y ago

From Brazil, Beholder: https://beholder.tech/en/ https://beholder.tech/en/ Although not yet doing automatic checkout, but most of the technology needed for it is there.

asymptotically2 7y ago

There are also existing cashierless stores in China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QKrHi-G9WQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QKrHi-G9WQ

amelius 7y ago

What are the false-positive/negative rates of this technology? What if I grab two items with one hand, and then put one back? Will the system correctly track this?

dokem 7y ago
I think there is an argument to be made of an acceptable increase in false negatives as the cost can be recouped through the efficiency of the system. Not to mention that a system like this should also cut down on theft.
- amelius 7y ago
  I don't think so, because people will figure out the weak spots and share this information. It will become a sport and people will think "last time I grabbed the milk like this, and they didn't charge me for it, what if I do it again tomorrow?" Hackers will start wearing special clothes with dazzle patterns or with grocery items to fool the system, etc.
  - dokem 7y ago
    What you're describing is no different than the thief mentality that exists today. Most people don't care to steal a carton of milk just because they can. And there's no denying the cost effectiveness of removing your checkout staff or else this tech wouldn't exist.
    - amelius 7y ago
      The difference is that with this kind of stealing the people doing it are not accountable.