Lawson and Panasonic conducted the industry-first experimental demonstration of Regi-Robo, an entirely automated checkout system from December 12, 2016 to February 20, 2017. The experiment was conducted at the Lawson Panasonic-Mae store in Moriguchi, Osaka, which is an experimental store of the next-gen convenience store with the support of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Lawson and Panasonic also conducted the experimental demonstration using RFIDs (electronic tags) in February 2017. By realising speedier checkouts without the need to scan purchased items before payments in the future, they aimed to further enhance convenience for customers.
With Regi-Robo system, customers picked up items and scanner the item’s barcode and then put the items into the ‘Smart Basket,’ a special basket for the system. When customers then placed the basket into the dedicated checkout counter, the system automatically settled the transaction and placed the purchased items into a plastic bag.
As store staff did not need to scan products for registration or packing, the new system contributed to labour-savings in store operations.
To further improve customers’ convenience and the productivity of operations, Lawson and Panasonic attached RFIDs, electronic tags to products, instead of barcodes, which enabled the communication information and eliminated the need of product scanning.
The companies have developed the Regi-Robo using their know-hows for productivity enhancements in factories, the mechatronics technology and sensing technology, all of which they have accumulated in the manufacturing industry. The Regi-Robo, according to them, is a customer-friendly self-checkout machine which will shorten customer’s time for settlements and operations at register counters.
The Regi-Robo is selected as an ‘experimental business to implement robotics in FY2016’ with subsidies from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
