Stop & Shop’s ‘Marty the Robot’ Blamed for Hampering Social Distancing

Could 'Marty the Robot's' Stop & Shop' job be in jeopardy?

Complaints are beginning to surface about Marty the Robot's job performance at various Stop & Shops Supermarkets in New England, according to a recent article in a Hearst Connecticut Media publication.

First of all, you may have noticed that Marty is not following the COVID-19 protocol by wearing a mask. A member of the news aggregation website, Reddit, posted a comment in their Connecticut forum saying,

You know, Marty, the one with the googly eyes, the one who does not obey the one ways and turns an already crowded aisle into a socially non-distanced traffic jam. He's annoying under normal circumstances, but in the current climate, he's infuriating and recklessly unsafe.

 

According to a spokeswoman for Stop & Stop, Marty the Robot's purpose is to roam the store's aisles on an hourly basis to check for hazards such as bulk-item spills. I, personally had a run-in with Martin just the other day when I needed to go down aisle 18. There he was blocking my way beeping his fool robot head off while yammering, "CLEAN-UP IN AISLE 18" over and over again.

Do you see anything that needs to be cleaned up?! I think not. Here is something I didn't know. According to Burt Flickinger from the Strategic Research Group in NYC, Marty and his robot pals have been programmed to detect shoplifters. So how would Marty handle that scenario? Would he yell-out in Robotese, "WARNING, WARNING, DOGFOOD PILFERER IN AISLE 18" over and over and over again?