The cleaning robot at Kippax Fair Woolworths. Photo: Facebook/Screenshot.
At some point last year, two employees quietly disappeared from Woolworths stores in Belconnen, never to be seen again.
“Frank” at the Charnwood stores and “Steve” at Kippax Fair were apparently “good friends” to more than one local shopper.
But last month, a post to the Canberra Notice Board Group on Facebook suggested both had gone missing.
“Super duper random … but just went to Woolies tonight (Kippax) and just realised that the … robot otherwise known as ‘Kippy’ isn’t there anymore,” the user wrote.
“Also realised the one at Charnwood isn’t there either. Does anyone know what happened? … Just pure curiosity what has happened to my good friends ‘Frank’ (what I called the one at Kippax) and ‘Steve’ (what I called the one at Charnwood).”
Yes, Frank (or Kippy) and Steve were AI-driven robots, tasked with cleaning up messes in aisles.
In 2019, Woolworths began a trial of “safety robots” in fewer than 10 stores across the ACT, NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
Their job, according to a spokesperson, was to “find potential safety hazards for our team members to respond to”, with no human jobs said to suffer as a result.
Some people clearly enjoyed having them about.
“I’m keen to know too. My son loved the one at Kippax and used to follow it around and give it a hug,” one reply to the Facebook post read.
“My son and I miss Kippy too. We wondered what happened,” another said.
Woolworths’ automated cleaning robot had shoppers divided wherever they were trialled. Photo: Woolworths.
Others weren’t so sure.
“Those things freaked me the heck out,” one person wrote.
Or, “Good riddance, they were always in my way,” and “I used to swear at them”.
“They just stood in front of [the hazard] and were like ‘hazard detected, please stand clear’. They were a hazard anyway.”
As for their fate, a Woolworths spokesperson told Region the trial came to an end last year “due to the project not being the right fit”.
“We thank our customers and team members for their support and feedback throughout the trial.”
The cleaning robot at Kippax Fair Woolworths. Photo: Facebook/Screenshot.
The company did not respond to a follow-up question on why the robots were not the right fit, however.
Woolies is no stranger to investigating how robots could improve efficiency in their stores.
For years, it has been using “little green machines” to collect trolleys from the car parks of 10 of its Brisbane stores.
“These innovative aids make navigating challenging car parks smoother for our team members, particularly in areas with inclines or ramps. And they ensure we have trolleys ready for our customers when they need them,” a spokesperson said.
Each robot is still operated by a staff member, steering the trolley train from the front of the row, while the machine takes the majority of the load from the back.
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union declined to respond to questions from Region about the latest safety robots, but has previously expressed support for supermarkets like Woolies using “tools of the trade”.
“It’s not dissimilar to electric pallet jacks being introduced,” secretary Josh Cullinan told Yahoo News Australia earlier this year.
“Basic pallet jacks were just these things on wheels and moving stock into trucks was horrendous because any bump or slope would risk everything toppling [over], but electric pallet jacks have been a big benefit for workers.”
In January 2020, Woolworths management did have to step in after a visually-impaired woman claimed one of the safety robots in a Melbourne store had “stalked” her and her guide dog.
The woman told Yahoo News Australia the robot had followed her down the aisle, repeating the word “obstruction” which had “scared the dog and also distracted her”.
Woolworths responded by speaking to the woman and advising they were taking any customer feedback on board.
“These robots operate in hundreds of stores across the world and have been subject to extensive safety testing by the manufacturer. They have sensors built in and are programmed to stop or move away from any fixed or moving objects.”
Woolworths didn’t confirm with Region whether it had plans to roll out more robots.
