Abstract

The case “Walmart Bids Goodbye to Shelf-Scanning Robots: Ends Contract with Bossa Nova Robotics” is about the termination of the contract between Walmart and Bossa Nova Robotics Inc., (Bossa Nova). The case deals with Walmart’s deployment of Roving Robots to track inventory at its stores in 2017 and then deciding to stop utilizing the Robots in 2020. The partnership between Walmart and Bossa Nova is discussed in detail along with the reasons for the contract for the Roving Robots being terminated. The case further details the retail robotics industry and the use of robots by other retail companies. There was fierce competition in retail robotics and technology companies in the retail robotics space were vying with each other to bring out a product most suitable for the retail industry. The case ends with the future outlook for the retail robotics space. It remains to be seen whether Walmart does a u-turn and redeploys robots at its stores.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in business
• Understand the positive and negative implications of AI in business
• Evaluate how AI can be used to optimize the business process.

Keywords

Walmart; Bossa Nova; Roving Robots; Robotics; Stores Inventory; Artificial Intelligence; Machine Vision; Automation; Deep Learning