Woolies store deploys ‘safety robot’ to monitor safety and surveillance cameras at self-serve check-outs

Woolworths has confirmed it has launched a robot instore and like Coles, will deploy cameras at check-outs to stop people stealing.

A new Woolies store in south western Sydney has installed high tech antitheft devices and a “safety” robot.

Woolworths is using top of the line surveillance technology to monitor its supermarkets.

The Gregory Hills store, which opened yesterday in Sydney, now includes a robot romancing the aisles which monitors hazards and makes the store “more safe”, a store manager told news.com.au.

She explained the robot monitors the store and is able to alert staff members to any dangers or hazards that may present.

“We’ve been working hard to reduce trips and slips in our stores, but we still see too many,” a spokesman for Woolworths told news.com.au.

“We’re trialling new technology in Gregory Hills to see if it can help make the store safer for our customers and team. It will roam the store looking for potential safety hazards, and allow one of our store team members to quickly attend to it.”

A staff member poses with the hazard spotting robot in the new Gregory Hills store.

The trial robot is designed to spot hazards and make the store more safe.

For shoppers who hope to take advantage of the self-serve check-outs to pocket a grape or two, Woolies is watching.

The supermarket giant has installed iPad touch screens with in-built cameras which will are being used as an anti theft device, as spokesman told news.com.au.

“We know the vast majority of our customers do the right thing at self-serve check-outs. This is a security measure we’re trialling for those that don’t,” a Woolworths spokesman said.

“The store has eight manned checkout lanes, and we’ve hired 40 customer service team members, for customers who prefer to interact with our team as they checkout.”

A spokesman for Woolworths noted that CCTV monitoring of customers “has been careful to ensure cameras can’t view the PIN pad” while they’re using EFTPOS machines.

The cameras overlook customers using the self-serve checkout.

There are also newly-installed cameras on iPads at the Gregory Hills Woolies.

Woolies have followed in the footsteps of competitor Coles, who installed tablet-sized cameras in up to 12 supermarkets in Melbourne.

At Coles, shoppers are shown footage of themselves being played back directly above the info window of their checkout monitor.

Coles said the goal was to deter the “small number of people” who do the wrong thing while shopping in their stores.

Aldi meanwhile has said it had no plans to install self-serve check-outs in Australia, and said in 2017 that it’s long-conveyor system was 40 per cent faster at processing sales than Coles or Woolies.