TL:dr; A new nonprofit initative for COVID-19 helps citizens locate nearby pharmacies and supermarkets that recently confirmed essential items in stock using an A.I. assistant: instock.app
There I was, staring at yet another empty shelf in yet another pharmacy, as I was attempting to buy a digital thermometer and some fever reducing medicine for my family. Being told time and time again by store reps that these essential items are currently out of stock and I should look elsewhere.
Essentials stock shortages have unfortunately become a reality for most of us during the COVID-19 / Coronavirus pandemic. Emergency essentials we desperately need have gone out-of-stock in many stores due to panic buying, hoarding, and the sudden surge in demand.
Yet, there are still stores stocking these essentials in our cities. But visiting every single pharmacy & supermarket in a city in-person to check if an item is in stock is a tedious, if not impossible task that may contribute to further contagion of Coronavirus.
There has to be a better way.
InStock
On instock.app, visitors are presented with a map of pharmacies and supermarkets that have recently confirmed essentials in stock in their city:
Stores that stock essentials are highlighted in green, where stores without any items are greyed out.
Clicking the stores reveals exactly which items are in/out of stock, as well as when the stock status was last updated, and directions to get to this store:
But how does InStock confirm stock in each store?
Meet Amy 🤖
Amy is an A.I. virtual assistant (think Google Duplex) I built that calls up pharmacies & supermarkets in a given city, asking store reps to confirm stock of essentials, such as:
1. Pain relief / fever reducing medicine
2. Cough medicine
3. Digital thermometers
4. Hand sanitizer
5. Antibacterial soap
6. Bottled water
7. Canned food
8. Pasta/rice
Listen to 1 of 1,000 real calls Amy 🤖 made in London to confirm stock:
https://go.aws/2JqVDLB
Once the stock status from various stores in a city has been collected, it is made available on the InStock website:
What’s next?
InStock is currently live in London, and the next step is to expand to more cities with essential shortages, and make the public aware of this nonprofit initiative.
I need your help
Expanding to more cities will require calling up thousands of pharmacies and supermarkets on a daily basis and this incurs large costs which only grow with the number of cities supported. If you’re in the position to support this venture financially, please get in touch.
In addition, any press coverage is welcome.
Reach out to me
I’m available at eladnava [at] gmail [dot] com.
Let me know what you think and how I can improve InStock in the comments below!
