Sam’s Club Rolling Out Inventory Accessory for Cleaning Robots

Walmart division Sam’s Club has begun the national, chainwide rollout of Inventory Scan, which will be added to its existing fleet of robotic scrubbers in collaboration with Brain Corp and Tennant Co. The rollout is the largest and fastest technology deployment undertaken by artificial intelligence company Brain Corp, as well as the first commercial application anywhere in the world of its brand-new inventory-scanning technology, which Progressive Grocer reported on earlier this month.

“Sam’s Club is hyper-focused on making sure our members have a seamless shopping experience, so any time-saving innovation we can implement is significant,” said Todd Garner, Sam’s Club’s VP of in-club product management. “By adding Inventory Scan to our current fleet of robotic scrubbers, we obtain critical inventory data that previously was time-consuming to obtain. This intelligence allows us to proactively manage our clubs in an efficient manner. Inventory Scan assures items are available and easy to locate in the club, freeing up time for our associates to focus on members and the shopping experience they deserve.”

Featuring a first-of-its-kind dual-function design, the scanning tower is being fitted to the nearly 600 autonomous floor scrubbers already operating at Sam’s Club locations across the country. These towers are powered by Brain Corp’s AI operating system, BrainOS, and manufactured by Minneapolis-based Tennant.

Once installed on a scrubber, the cloud-connected Inventory Scan tower can capture data as it moves autonomously around the club. Reports are then delivered to the club managers that provide such insights as verification of pricing accuracy, planogram compliance, product stock levels and product localization. Each function negates the need for time-consuming and manual processes, thereby reducing waste and inventory loss.

“This latest iteration of our valued and longstanding partnership with Sam’s Club marks the beginning of realizing the next phase in our company’s vision,” said Dr. Eugene Izhikevich, CEO of San Diego-based Brain Corp. “We are actively taking BrainOS-powered robots from primarily task-oriented machines to in-store data acquisition platforms, able to deliver actionable insights on inventory availability, planogram compliance and more. This adds significant ROI for retailers.”

Sam’s Club, a division of Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart Inc., operates nearly 600 clubs in the United States and Puerto Rico. Walmart operates about 10,500 stores under 48 banners in 24 countries, and e-commerce websites, employing 2.2 million-plus associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on The PG 100, PG’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, while Sam’s Club ranks ninth.