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Woolworths shoppers have taken to social media wanting to know why they’re sharing aisles with a robot named ‘Hawkie’.
But if you come across a smiling robot, don’t be alarmed.
A Woolies spokesperson told news.com.au they’ve been trialling “hi-tech safety robots” in a small number of stores for almost two years now.
Not everyone seems to know about ‘Hawkie’, with some shoppers baffled by the retail giant’s quirky gadget.
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“So I just went to my local Woolworths in Melbourne and they have a robot roaming the store checking for spills,” one woman said in a recent TikTok video.
“It just stops where there is a spill on the ground,” she adds, sharing footage of the robot.
In the clip, the robot can then be heard saying “watch out hazard detected, please stand clear”.
“It’s even got its own name badge,” the woman continued.
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Woolworths told news.com.au the robots scan shop floors for potential hazards and allow teams to “attend to them quickly”.
The woman’s video has been viewed almost 10,000 times with customers equally stunned by the robot.
“Awww it’s cute. I haven’t seen one in person but I would give it a hug,” one person joked.
“It’s a good idea, saving people from injury and those who easily sue,” said another.
However, as some were concerned it was “taking away work” from people, Woolworths confirmed to news.com.au that “there is no impact on jobs”.
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“The future generation will struggle to find jobs,” one person wrote.
“Robots don’t eliminate jobs, they create them-like the introduction of most major technologies,” said another.
The trial began in April 2019 and currently there’s around 15 stores (out of more than 1000) participating in the trial.
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