This US start-up thinks it has the alternative to Amazon Go, and it could be coming to the UK

It’s easy to understand the hype around Amazon Go: checkout-free stores, where you can go in and pick up the items you need without having stand around in a queue.

The retail giant’s vision for a future of fuss-free shopping is one we can all get behind.

But, it’s not perfect. For Amazon's plan, stores need to be built from scratch to accommodate the necessary tech such as sensors and cameras, and it initially couldn’t work if there were more than 20 people in the store, which has reportedly delayed the rollout of the concept.

US start-up Caper thinks it has the alternative to Amazon Go, and one that could be a lot easier to scale than Amazon’s version.

Caper’s vision for checkout-free food shopping centres around an AI-powered trolley. When shopping in-store, people can put items into the Caper cart, and built-in sensors use computer vision to identify the items and tally the virtual basket. An interactive screen can offer up in-store deals too.

When they’ve finished shopping, they can pay via the cart’s screen and leave the store.

“Caper's AI-powered shopping cart is a plug-and-play solution - no installation is required and no operational restructuring is needed. Store owners can put Caper carts in their stores and enable an automated checkout experience that complements their existing business,” Caper’s founder and CEO, Lindon Gao, told the Standard.

“We can enable the Amazon Go experience without the gigantic infrastructure. We cost less and we can do more.”

Caper has some serious backing in the tech industry. The start-up is backed by Y Combinator, one of the most well-respected accelerator programmes in Silicon Valley, and it recently revealed it has raised $3 million in funding so far.

The tech is available in 150 grocery stores in New York, mainly small to medium-sized businesses. The stores that have been using it have noticed people will increase their purchases by 18 per cent, because of Caper’s recommendation system via the in-cart screen.

Gao says Caper is in talks with a large UK supermarket, though he can’t disclose any more information.

It’s clear: AI is coming to your supermarket. A big US supermarket chain, Giant Food Stores, recently deployed 500 robot assistants, complete with googly eyes, across its stores.

The tall robots, named Marty, autonomously navigate the floor of the supermarket and use cameras and sensors to identify and report hazards such as spills on the floor.

It helps that Marty looks rather adorable with those massive eyes too.