Walmart will begin cleaning some of its stores with robot janitors beginning in January, the company announced Monday.
The robots in question "look like a cross between a miniature Zamboni and a motorized wheel chair," Bloomberg reports, and their main function is to sweep and mop store floors. They must be guided by humans while they learn the contours of the space they'll clean but after that can operate autonomously, even while customers are around.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How will Keir Starmer pay for greater defence spending?Today's Big Question Funding for courts, prisons, local government and the environment could all be at risk
-
Ukraine's mineral riches and Trump's shakedown diplomacyThe Explainer President's demand for half of Kyiv's resources in return for past military aid amounts to 'mafia blackmail tactics' and 'colonialism'
-
Harry Potter is coming to TV: what we know about new HBO showThe Explainer Cillian Murphy as Voldemort? Paapa Essiedu as Snape? All the latest on the huge new series shooting in the UK this summer
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pausesSpeed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect
-
Chinese AI chatbot's rise slams US tech stocksSpeed Read The sudden popularity of a new AI chatbot from Chinese startup DeepSeek has sent U.S. tech stocks tumbling
-
US port strike averted with tentative labor dealSpeed Read The strike could have shut down major ports from Texas to Maine
-
Biden expected to block Japanese bid for US SteelSpeed Read The president is blocking the $14 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel, citing national security concerns
-
Judges block $25B Kroger-Albertsons mergerSpeed Read The proposed merger between the supermarket giants was stalled when judges overseeing two separate cases blocked the deal
-
Rupert Murdoch loses 'Succession' court battleSpeed Read Murdoch wanted to give full control of his empire to son Lachlan, ensuring Fox News' right-wing editorial slant
-
Bitcoin surges above $100k in post-election rallySpeed Read Investors are betting that the incoming Trump administration will embrace crypto
-
Enron mystery: 'sick joke' or serious revival?Speed Read 23 years after its bankruptcy filing, the Texas energy firm has announced its resurrection
