Article originally appears in the March 15, 2019 issue of the SNEB eCommunicator.

If the article on grocery stores and technology wasn’t enough tech for you…here’s more coming your way. Some are being used now, some are in development.

OVERVIEW
**5 ways robots are changing the food industry – agriculture, processing, packaging, food delivery, cookery
https://blog.robotiq.com/top-5-ways-robotics-is-changing-the-food-industry

**All Sides with Ann Fisher – fascinating podcast about tech and food. The episode starts with individuals experiences with grocery delivery. About 14 minutes in is a fascinating segment about robots and farmwork @ https://radio.wosu.org/post/tech-tuesday-future-farmwork-and-more or wherever you download your podcasts.

ROBOTS & FOODSERVICE
**The growing use of robotics and technology and foodservice: Here in the U.S. and overseas including Sally, the salad maker, a $30K vending machine.
https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4087781.html

ROBOTS & AG, OTHER PARTS OF THE FOOD SYSTEM
**A robot that can peel lettuce: Robot dexterity is a big issue in automating farmwork – just imagine a robot picking delicate strawberries. Some in the U.K. are addressing this issue.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/26/17904834/robot-automation-agriculture-peels-lettuce-cambridge-university

**Robots help with farm work: A prototype in ID monitors fields.
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/robots-can-help-with-farm-work/3576587.html

**From strawberries to apples, a wave of agriculture robotics may ease the farm labor crunch: harvesting prototypes are being tested to pick everything from lettuce to grapes to apples to strawberries
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/08/wave-of-agriculture-robotics-holds-potential-to-ease-farm-labor-crunch.html

**How fish farms can use facial recognition to survey sick salmon: a Norwegian company plans to use facial recognition in fish farming.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/facial-recognition-will-be-used-monitor-fish-faces-180970493/

**A Chinese company is GPS-tracking your chickens to ensure their healthy and organic: Like a Fitbit for chickens, the GPS tracker monitors how many steps chickens take, what it eats and more. This is part of ‘blockchain tech’ which helps companies follow a product throughout the food system and detect problems when issues such as food safety arise.
https://mashable.com/article/gogo-chicken-gps-tracking-poultry/

THE FIRST ROBOTIC SUPERMARKET
**World’s first ‘robotic supermarket’ coming to Miami: customers use an app to choose items and robotics are used to get foods from a huge fulfillment center. Customers can have items delivered or pick them up. Robots can get 900 items an hour vs. humans @ 60.
https://www.bisnow.com/south-florida/news/retail/robotic-supermarket-sedanos-miami-95629

ROBOTS & DELIVERY
**FedEx turns to Segway inventor to test delivery robot: This summer you might see delivery robots in Memphis, TN. The company is partnering with other companies such as Pizza Hut to see how this technology might help them.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/27/tech/fedex-delivery-robot/index.html

VOICE ORDERING
**Restaurant tech: voice ordering for restaurants: one datapoint, it’s projected that 1/2 of all searches will be voice-based by 2020. Whether in-app or via voice assistants such as Alexa, voice ordering is a new wave of tech.
https://www.evokad.com/voice-ordering-technology/

AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE)
**New use for AI: McCormick and IBM team up to use AI to find the right ingredients in the right amounts for recipes.
https://www.supermarketguru.com/the-lempert-report/a-new-food-use-for-artificial-intelligence/

**Now refrigerators are watching us too: ‘smart coolers’ are coming to a store near you
A facial-profiling system in cooler screens that changes ads based on your demographic. Using AI the screens analyze your face and determine your buying behavior. It’s being tested in Chicago at Walgreen’s and will likely ripple out to more companies.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-30/now-refrigerators-are-watching-us-too-smart-coolers-are-coming-store-near-you

**This food shopping app will help food allergy sufferers avoid triggers in grocery stores: Augmented reality app could help people with allergies at the grocery store…imagine holding up your phone to a grocery shelf and immediately seeing which products have ingredients you are avoiding. A Swiss company hopes to roll this out in the next 6 to 9 months.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90309449/this-ar-shopping-app-will-help-food-allergy-sufferers-avoid-triggers-in-grocery-stores