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Amazon announced its intention to put the nation's cashiers out of work a few months ago, simply it looks like they'll be getting a reprieve for now. Amazon's automated grocery shop was supposed to open to the public this month, merely the retailer has postponed the launch. The alleged reason is that its shopper tracking technology is not notwithstanding able to reliably rail shoppers . That's kind of a big trouble.

The idea behind Amazon Go is that shoppers tin can but walk in and scan their phone to brainstorm a virtual cart. Once within the store, yous only choice up whatsoever you want, and walk out. At no point are you forced to interact with another homo existence who will ask you about your day or encourage y'all to sign up for a store-branded credit card. Yous tin can bank check out the video below for an overview of how information technology's all supposed to work.

Amazon is having problem perfecting the smart engineering at the centre of the store, co-ordinate to The Wall Street Journal. Amazon has never been entirely clear about what was going on behind the scenes, except to say it was based on computer vision, deep learning algorithms, and multiple sensors positioned around the store. The company compares information technology with the applied science at work in self-driving cars. Amazon calls information technology "But walk out" technology.

The store actually watches people move around the store, and makes a note of everything they pick up or set down. However, it doesn't work if there are too many people. Plainly any more than 20 warm bodies wandering around and the shop has trouble keeping track of who is picking up what. The demo store is fairly large, too, with about 1,800 square feet of space. Items that are placed back in the wrong spot are also not tracked properly.

If it was working, the Amazon Go store would just be the latest instance of automation removing humans from the labor strength. Amazon's stores would require only a handful of human employees for stocking, security, and client service.

Amazon hasn't responded to requests for comment on the delay, and it'due south unclear when the Amazon Go store volition open the the public — information technology'due south only open for beta testers right now. If the kinks are worked out, Amazon Go stores could expand from this one location in Seattle. The store currently stock various grocery items and prepared foods, but Amazon has expressed interest in expanding to full grocery and warehouse-style stores in the future.