How googly eyes will bring about the downfall of humanity
How do you get humans to turn a blind eye to the impending robot apocalypse? With googly eyes, of course. Giant Food Stores, a grocery chain along the East Coast, has unveiled a new robotic employee called Marty that is engineered to make stores safer. The robot looks for out-of-stocks on shelves, scans unit price tags, and generates reports. The worst part is that Marty is outfitted with a pair of novelty googly eyes, prompting shoppers to stop and take selfies with it. The ending of “The Terminator” might have been a lot different if the T-800 had been equipped with adorable googly eyes.
According to David Grossman for Popular Mechanics: "The robots aren't quite replacing the humans in these supermarkets. Built by Brain Corp., which has also built robotic janitors for Walmart, Martys will be alerting humans to problems that need their attention. They'll move through the Giants and when they notice spills or other trip hazards, they'll alert customers verbally and reach out to employees through the store's public announcement system."
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
Connect with Alexis on LinkedIn