Robotic shelf inspection in retail stores

A robot performs an in-store shelf scan and updates the inventory level of each item using a 3D camera

Situation & problem

Our client, a retail company, was looking for a machine vision and robotics solution to autonomously take inventory and detect out-of-stock items.

Intermodalics’ solution

A combination of an off the shelf mobile platform with 2D and 3D cameras with a specifically developed software solution. The software fuses the different sensor data into a complete observation of the products for increased accuracy and continuous scanning operation. The robot can autonomously find its way through the supermarket, avoiding obstacles while pursuing the inventory taking objective. The combination of a deep learning engine makes the sensing detect products of different shapes in different circumstances: whether deformable bags or partially boxed items.

Outcome

• A robot that can navigate the whole supermarket, recognize racking and detect inventory, fill levels and out-of-stock items;
• A server application that keeps track of inventory;
• A frontend to visualize the inventory levels in real-time 3D.