Using robotics in Decathlon store for the tasks with no added value
During the Hackathlon (Decathlon Hackathon) 2016, the Decabots team (Valentin Auvinet, Medhi Moussa, Jordan Samouh, Yoann Vannicatte) was formed and together we won this edition with our project of in-store delivery robot.
End of 2018, I decided to take the project out of the boxes and carry out a real-size test with a “real” delivery robot in the Douai store and create my new job in robotics.
Since this first test, several robots have been tested and at this this day we are in the process of finalizing the first version of the delivery robot.
!!! Warning teaser !!! The first operational robot will be called “Rocinante#1”, literary reference for someone, geek reference for the others :)
Why this project ?
Last availability study report (The new imperatives of the French consumer, opinionWay for Generix) highlighted a lack of availability of our sellers and our products :
What are the criteria for a successful shopping experience?
63% — Products availability
37% — Competence and sellers availability
What are the reasons for lost purchases?
62% — Lack of sizes (return on spindle)
8% — Lack of advice (vendor availability)
The Delivery Robot takes care of some tasks with no added value to improve the availability of vendors and products by acting on the reception, returns reception and fitting, geolocation of products, RFID inventory, e-reservation …
Expected results :
- More than 350K hours saved for France, so 350K additional hours of presence to advise our clients
- Improved return on spindles and generating returns datas
- “Visible” retail innovation without direct customer interaction
=> Better support, more customer satisfaction !
How it works ?
The robot is composed of two parts: the rolling base and the “top”.
The rolling base is in fact the robot in its integral part, it is supplied by the robot manufacturer.
The role of the base is to move the robot safely. The navigation is done by sending X,Y coordinates.
The movements are managed by the internal software of the robot which interprets the data of lidars (laser radars) and 3D cameras in real time to detect fixed or mobile obstacles and adapt its trajectory according to them.
The rolling base is kind of “slave” to the top who contains the orchestrator.
The top is provided by the integrator (provider who selects the most suitable robot for the need and adapts it, modifies it if necessary…). The top includes the tray that holds the articles and all the RFID technology for their detection.
When items are placed in the tray, the RFID antenna detects the items, we interrogate several APIs to retrieve the information of the items (model code, family…) then we interrogate the StoreMap APIs to know the coordinates of the family of every items. These coordinates are sent by the top to the rolling base and the robot can move to its destination.
The top is also responsible for managing the order of deliveries and sending analysis data daily.
The Human/robot war is for tomorrow ?
No ! But the collaboration Human-robot is for today !
As robots take over tasks without added value for human and as human does not delegate his creativity and the social relation with customers, the technology will remain in a support dimension and not a rivalry.
The next developments will be based on feedback from the store teams and the first version of the robot will be proposed to French stores during the first quarter of 2021.
We are currently working on the RFID inventory process and on delivery from the reception area of the store to the destination aisle.
To be continued…
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