Bossa Nova drops robots in "retail AI" rebrand
Bossa Nova Robotics is no stranger to pivots. The company began work on toy robots when it was founded in 2005. It later developed a research robot called "mObi", which was based on the spherical locomotion technology of Carnegie Mellon University.
After that, the company introduced what it is best known for: autonomous mobile robots for inventory tracking, with Walmart as its main customer.
However, the company's deal with Walmart suddenly ended in November 2020. At one point, Walmart planned to expand its use of Bossa Nova robots from 500 to 1,000 stores. But the retail giant "found other, sometimes simpler solutions that proved just as useful, according to people familiar with the situation." These solutions included using employees to monitor inventory.
Bossa Nova did not publicly disclose its relationship with Walmart. As a result, it was unclear what future awaited a company that closed its European business unit and reportedly laid off 50% of its staff after losing the world's largest retailer as a customer.
Still, The Robot Report learned that Bossa Nova has changed its business again. The company is taking a "broader approach" to image-based AI analytics for retailers and is downplaying the role of robotics.
Downplaying robotics
Looking at Bossa Nova's updated website, it is hard to find any mention of robots. There are no references to robots in the company's fact sheet or on the About, Company, Solutions, or Leadership pages.
You will find the word "robot" in a section explaining why its image-based AI analytics technology is capture-agnostic: "Our AI is capture-agnostic. This means it can use data from many different types of sensors. Whether you want to use a mobile device, a robot, or fixed cameras, we will provide you with everything you need."
The main capture device that Bossa Nova now promotes on its site is a mobile app. "Field employees, professional shoppers, and other agents take pictures of products, displays, and shelves in one or more stores. Bossa Nova interprets the image in five seconds or less. Bossa Nova provides detailed product information, calculates analytics, and highlights issues. Our customers record the data from the images in their databases. They then provide advanced analytics to their retail and consumer goods customers," the company says.
In earlier versions of the website, the company advertised its robotics capabilities and expertise, even dedicating a page to its subsidiary of the well-known CMU Robotics Institute.
This is what Bossa Nova's "Leadership" page looks like now. Again, there are no references to the company's robotics experience or heritage. Instead, the page promotes the executive team's "unique combination of retail and machine learning experience."
Capture-agnostic
Bossa Nova told The Robot Report that it is still working on robotics and has "proof of concept with large national retailers who want to use advanced robotics capabilities to manage inventory and improve store operations." The company said it cannot name retailers for legal reasons.
Bossa Nova's interim marketing director is Holly Roland. Roland is also an operating partner at Cota Capital, a San Francisco investment firm that led Bossa Nova's $29 million funding round in June 2018.
Roland said that losing Walmart as a customer was an eye-opener. According to her, Bossa Nova concluded that retailers are not ready for inventory robots at the level that robotics makers need them.
“In the end, they will get there. Retailers operate on such thin margins that the pace of robotics adoption is held back by a number of challenges. Introducing new technology into operations can be difficult for any company, but the dynamics of retail stores are a particularly tough environment for deploying automation technology, as it changes established practices and requires training staff”
Roland added that the pace of robotics adoption is too slow to focus on: "Retailers face so many disruptions that providing them with information through other channels may be the fastest way to help them improve various operational functions. We want to be agnostic about the capture mechanism they want us to use. Want a robot? We have that. Want your employees to use a mobile app? We can help you there too."
She said Bossa Nova sees this as an expansion of the business rather than a downplaying of any single technology, such as robotics.
“This is certainly evolving as we work through the new business strategy and where to go next. Bossa Nova was well known as a robotics company, but we want the rebrand to make clear that it is about insights and analytics. Retailers have all this wonderful information coming in from many capture mechanisms, and that is where we want to be the player: retail AI”
The outlook for retail robotics
Simbe Robotics is a leading developer of mobile robots for shelf inventory tracking. When Bossa Nova focused on mobile robots, it was a direct competitor of Simbe. Brad Bogolea, co-founder and CEO of Simbe Robotics, disagrees that retailers are not ready for robotics.
“At Simbe, we have seen the pandemic further highlight the importance of accurate, automated, real-time shelf data for strengthening supply chains, improving in-store operations, and enhancing customer and team member service. We have seen huge growth over the past 18 months and increased interest from retailers, especially grocery stores, including expansion across the Schnuck Markets network, new partnerships with Meijer and Hy-Vee, and several undisclosed retailer relationships”
He says this momentum reflects growing recognition by retailers of the critical importance of automation and computer vision technologies that strategically and cost-effectively improve in-store operations and provide invaluable insights for the entire business.
While many companies have tried to collect this type of data using mobile devices, they do not provide the coverage and frequency retailers need at scale.
Simbe also recently received a patent covering the use of autonomous mobile robots and vision to track the freshness and ripeness of fruits and vegetables on grocery store shelves.
