Woolworths ends safety robot trial after six years: 'Not the right fit'

Woolworths has quietly discontinued a trial of safety robots it first deployed to stores six years ago.

The supermarket giant has confirmed to 9honey that the trial has come to an end, with the robots retired due to ''not being the right fit".

The robots were first deployed to select Woolworths stores in 2019.

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They were trialled at fewer than 10 of the more than 1000 stores across NSW, ACT, Victoria and Queensland.

"We began trialling safety robots in 2019 across select Woolworths stores to find potential safety hazards for our team members to respond to," a Woolworths spokesman told 9honey, in response to our inquiry this week.

"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."

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The robots confused, delighted, amused and even infuriated shoppers over the years, judging from comments on Reddit and in media reports.

Many shoppers were surprised when they first encountered a robot in-store, and would seek explanations from other Reddit users.

"They move around the store and scan for any items on the floor or any spills. Once it detects something, it will announce over the intercom where the spill/item is so that an employee can clean it up," one Reddit user replied to a question in Reddit's mildly interesting thread in 2020, which featured a photo of a robot wearing a mask during the height of the COVID pandemic.

Media reports also suggested some people were unaware what they were for, and misinterpreted their use.

It also appeared from photos that there were several different models deployed.

There was also a report from a woman who said she was 'stalked' by one of the robots while visiting a store.

Casey Hyde told Yahoo News in 2020 she was walking with her guide dog in a store when she was confronted by one of the robots.

Hyde, who only had 10 per cent of her vision, said the robot followed her while repeating the word 'obstruction' – possibly because it was detecting her dog.

"It's designed to find things blocking the aisle and the robot thought Bridget was an obstruction," she said. "It scared the dog and also distracted her."

But while Woolworths dismissed the robots for "not being the right fit", it seems shoppers are already missing them.

One shopper recently took to Facebook's Canberra Notice Board Group to ask about a robot that had previously been stationed at the Woolworths in Kippax, ACT.

"Super duper random... but went to Woolies tonight and just realised that the 'Hawkie robot'... isn't there anymore [and] also realised the one at Charnwood isn't there either.

"Just pure curiosity to know what happened to my good friends 'Frank' (what I called the one at Kippax) and Steve (what I called the one at Charnwood)?"

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