From: hal@finney.org
Date: Fri Jan 11 2002 - 11:43:10 MST
JR forwards:
> Optimal Robotics sells more U-Scans
> MONTREAL - Optimal Robotics Corp. has sold another 500 U-Scan self-checkout
> systems to U.S. grocery giant Kroger Co., further establishing the technology
> as the retail industry's next widely adopted innovation.
These are not, as the subject line implies, robotic systems. They are
simply self-service scanning stations. The customer does the scanning
instead of the checkout clerk. There is a supervisor who watches people
to make sure they aren't slipping anything past the scanner.
They've got one of these at the local K-Mart. I was surprised how hard it
is to scan things. I remember when checkout scanners were first installed
at supermarkets and such, the clerks had a lot of trouble making them
work, turning products every which way and waving them back and forth over
the scanners in frustration. Well, I found myself doing the same thing.
It takes practice to hold the product in the correct orientation so that
the scanning goes as smoothly as when the professionals do it.
Hal
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