Tally (robot)
 | |
 Tally scanning robot at a Festival Foods | |
| Manufacturer | Simbe |
|---|---|
| Inventor | Simbe |
| Country | United States |
| Year of creation | 2015 |
| Purpose | Retail |
Tally is a robot to assist with stocking and maintaining store shelves at retail locations. The robot has cameras and sensors to determine if products on store shelves are out-of-stock, misplaced, or mispriced. It was created by Simbe in 2015.
Tally
Tally is the first autonomous mobile robot to assist with stocking and maintaining store shelves.[1] It was first introduced in 2015.[2] The robot sits on a round platform on wheels.[3][4] Tally is made from a metal frame with a plastic outer-layer.[3] Tally navigates a retail location based on a map of the store, while taking photos of the shelves. It uses the photos to determine if the products are stocked, in the right place, and properly labeled.[5][2] It also has sensors to avoid bumping into shoppers.[6]
Tally runs for up to 12 hours on a charge.[1] Once it runs low on power, it navigates back to a base station to charge.[6] Most of the robot's software is based on open source packages, like those from the Robot Operating System (ROS) and Open Computer Vision (OpenCV).[3] The robot takes about one hour to scan all of the shelves of a small store.[7] It views about 15,000 to 30,000 barcodes per-hour.[8] As of 2024, Tally was in use at about 1,000 stores.[8]
Background
Simbe, the manufacturers of Tally, was founded by Brad Bogolea, Mirza Shah, and Jeff Gee in July 2014.[3] Its first release of Tally was in 2015.[9] The company raised $26 million in funding in 2019,[10] $28 million in 2023,[11] and $50 million Series C in 2024.[4] In January 2024, it released an improved version with longer-range vision and the ability to scan taller shelves or pallets, it developed in a partnership with BJ's Wholesale Club for wholesale locations.[9] In October 2024, Simbe released Brand Insights. This allowed retailers to sell data to the brands they carry on things like where the brand's products are located and if they are in stock.[9][8]
References
- 1 2 Stephens, Doug (March 22, 2017). Reengineering Retail: The Future of Selling in a Post-Digital World. Figure 1 Publishing. ISBN 978-1-927958-80-3. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
- 1 2 McFarland, Matt (November 11, 2015). "Why this robot may soon be cruising down your grocery store's aisles". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Stuart, S.C. (January 27, 2016). "Meet Tally, the Robot That Knows What's on Store Shelves". PCMAG. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
- 1 2 Mathews, Jessica (October 24, 2024). "Goldman Sachs-backed Simbe Robotics raises $50M in Series C funding to bolster retail robot business". Fortune. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
- ↑ Vanian, Jonathan (April 16, 2021). "Robots are now scanning shelves at Save Mart and Lucky Supermarkets in California". Fortune. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
- 1 2 Muoio, Danielle (December 1, 2015). "A start-up created an autonomous robot to make sure grocery stores never run out of your favorite foods". Business Insider. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
- ↑ Knight, Will (November 11, 2015). "Robot Makes Sure Stores Don't Run Out of Doritos". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
- 1 2 3 Pegoraro, Rob (March 18, 2025). "These retail robots travel through store aisles, scanning shelves for inventory and insights". Fast Company. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
- 1 2 3 Pegoraro, Rob (March 18, 2025). "The most innovative companies in robotics and engineering for 2025". Fast Company. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
- ↑ Heater, Brian (September 12, 2019). "Simbe raises a $26M Series A for its retail inventory robot". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
- ↑ Heater, Brian (July 13, 2023). "Simbe's inventory robots score $28 million in funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 10, 2026.