Gizmodo: malls

Palette Mannequin Robot Changes Pose to Please Passing Shoppers

Jack Loftus — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:30:00 EDT

Robots have taken over the shopping malls. Flee.

The robot in this case is called Palette. It's a Japanese creation that changes poses when it "senses" window shoppers taking in the view. Some Japanese boutiques have already started renting the bots for about $3,000 apiece ($50,000 to own).

"It makes the product the mannequin wears look more attractive, increasing consumers' appetite to buy," says Tatsuya Matsui, chief robot designer and the boss of Flower Robotics.

For now, the robot's movement is based on a proximity sensor. In the future, facial recognition software will allow Palette to change poses based on the viewer's sex and even the logos on their shopping bags.

Version 3.0 will presumably tackle shoppers who dare enter a store with a competitor's bags in hand. I fear for the mall rats of the future, I really do. [Inventor Spot]

Telerobotic Shopper Lets You Hit the Malls Using a Cellphone

Elaine Chow — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Japan, the land of using technology to solve problems we didn't know we had, has come out with a new robot that will let people shop at malls without ever leaving their home. Robot developer tmsuk revealed a telerobotic shopper that can be controlled using NTT DoCoMo's cellphone technology.

In the demo, unveiled at the Izutuya deparment store in Kitakyushu, Japan, a sick grandmother went shopping with her granddaughter using the robot and a video-capable cellphone. Girl and bot sauntered to the hat section, shuffled through what was available, and picked out one to purchase.

So what about this makes it better than having your granddaughter surf Internet clothes outlets with you back at home? Being the kind of person that abhors shopping at malls, I really have no clue. Tmsuk, however, is convinced that its “3D communications” technology will soon have telerobotic machines wandering around all the world's fashion capitals. [Pink Tentacle]

Dell Closing its Retail Store Kiosks

Jason Chen — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:40:04 EST

Those friendly Dell kiosks you've been seeing in the mall are all going away as Dell shutters all 140 stores in favor of going back to their online sales and bigger name retail outlets (like Best Buy). All their inventory-less stores will be closed, meaning that you will have to order online from the comfort of your own home instead of trekking down to the mall and doing it. [Reuters - With special shout-out to our man Nate]

New Mall Camera System Can Guess Your Age, Gender, and Class

Adam Frucci — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:30:00 EDT

Soon, when you go to the mall, the jerks who work in the stores won't be the only ones judging you based on your appearance. A new $19,000 camera system currently being tested in Japan purports to be able to guess your gender, age, and even your social class merely by appearance. It determines this by comparing how you look to pictures of people who are already accurately profiled in the system. The system doesn't record or store the images, but it's still pretty damned creepy. Think of it as judging a book by its cover made as scientific as possible. Boy, that's awesome. [CNET via The Raw Feed]

RFID Shopbots Begin Test Runs

Travis Hudson — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 15:20:42 EST

NTT Communications is teaming with Tmsuk to test a RFID-controlled shopping assistant robot at a mall in Fukuoka. Basically the robot reads millions of RFID tags that are embedded into the floor of the mall, collecting information about everything in the shops. It works by having the shopper select a store/product destination, the robot will then direct the shopper to said store and then provide information about the store and its myriad contents. The robot also has a safe lock-box for valuables. The testing will begin on February 9th and continue through the 15th, so get thee to a Japanese mall.

RFID-Driven Shopping Assistant Robot [Via Picturephoning]