{"id":10107,"date":"2019-12-04T07:49:27","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T12:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/bossa-nova-robotics-ai-and-groceries\/"},"modified":"2019-12-04T07:49:27","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T12:49:27","slug":"bossa-nova-robotics-ai-and-groceries","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/bossa-nova-robotics-ai-and-groceries\/","title":{"rendered":"Bossa Nova: Robotics, AI and Groceries"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is Bossa Nova?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bossa Nova is a Silicon Valley Series B startup, valued at $179M, with a mission to deliver advanced robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to retailers [1]. \u00a0Currently, Bossa Nova is focused on solving the inventory management challenges faced by large brick-and-mortar grocery stores.\u00a0Its signature product is an autonomous robot that can deftly navigate the aisles of a grocery store (using LIDAR maps) while also collecting 2D and 3D images of all the shelves, freezers and produce displays [2].\u00a0 The images are sent to the cloud where they are processed rapidly by Bossa Nova\u2019s AI software and translated into actionable data points \u2013 including the identification of out-of-stock, misplaced or mispriced products. This data is sent back to store associates, helping them efficiently manage the inventory available and improve the customer experience [3, 4].<\/p>\n

While the robotic element of this solution is itself noteworthy, the AI used by Bossa Nova for item identification is considered leading edge, which earned the company a place on Forbes\u2019 2019 \u201cAI 50: America\u2019s Most Promising Artificial Intelligence Companies\u201d list [1].\u00a0 It is not a simple task to classify the various SKUs on grocery shelves using digital images, since product packaging changes frequently and items are often rotated or knocked over by customers [5].\u00a0Bossa Nova is still iterating on this challenge, but a 2018 acquisition of an AI lab called HawXeye provided a critical boost.\u00a0 The HawXeye team had spun out of Carnegie Mellon University and specialized in deep machine learning, facial and object recognition.\u00a0 According to Bossa Nova\u2019s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Sarjoun Skaff: \u201cit turns out that\u2026 the way you recognize faces is fundamentally the same way you recognize product\u201d [6].\u00a0With this new methodology, Bossa Nova\u2019s AI software can now identify its customers\u2019 SKUs with an impressive degree of accuracy.<\/p>\n

Bossa Nova reports to have six major grocery customers across the US and UK already signed up, with the two known customers being Walmart and Albertsons.\u00a0 At Walmart, 350 robots are being used across stores so far [3].\u00a0 Interestingly, from a value capture perspective, Bossa Nova does not charge retailers for the robots or their maintenance.\u00a0 Instead, it collects service fees for the data and analysis that it provides [6].<\/p>\n