Tesco trials huge change to UK supermarkets as ‘6ft AI robot’ spotted in store

A new life-sized robot is being trialed in Tesco to detect missing stock and pricing mistakes – and to save staff from having to carry out manual checks

Tesco is trialing a new 6.5ft aisle-roaming robot to help detect missing stock and pricing errors.

The life-sized machine will use AI and computer vision to independently roam supermarket aisles and continuously monitor shelves – saving staff from having to carry out manual checks.

Tesco said the Tally robot by Simbe Robotics will also help spot gaps on shelves so that staff can better boost visibility. According to Simbe, Tally can spot 10 times more out-of-stock products than those found in manual checks.

The machine can also pick up on pricing errors and items displayed in the wrong location, then send over reports to store colleagues so that the issues can be quickly resolved.

Posting an image of the bot at a Tesco store, one Reddit user said: “Walked into my local Tesco to see a ‘Inventory Checking’ robot going about the store.

“Even more hilarious than it being called Tally is that nobody went within 5ft of it and kept giving it sideye.”

Industry expert Toby Pickard, Retail Futures Senior Partner at IGD, revealed the trial after spotting the robot operating inside a Tesco store.

He said the move marks Tesco’s first deployment of autonomous shelf-scanning technology and only the second time a major UK supermarket has trialled the system.

“This marks a first for Tesco in the UK and only the second time we’ve seen a major UK retailer trialling autonomous shelf-scanning technology,” he wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

“Rather than relying on manual audits, the robot captures shelf conditions multiple times a day and provides store teams with prioritised action lists via mobile apps and digital or printed reports.

“The goal is simple: resolve issues faster, improve inventory accuracy, and free up colleagues to spend more time serving customers.”

Tally, which was first introduced a decade ago, has already been used across retailers in several other countries.

Morrisons was the first UK supermarket to trial the machine last year, introducing it at stores in Wetherby, Redcar and Stockton.

Those robots measured roughly 5ft4 inches in height and travelled across shop floors without assistance – using sensors to move around obstacles.

The new bots being used for the Tesco trial are reportedly 6.5ft tall.

During the Morrisons trial, the robot was used to check product placement and availability, and help ensure the correct pricing information was being displayed.

The supermarket introduced the technology to reduce the amount of time colleagues spent carrying out routine shelf inspections, allowing them to focus on assisting customers instead.