Walmart Abandons Shelf-Scanning Robots, Lets Humans Do Work

The Labor Leader Keir Starmer, the Shadow Minister for Science, Research and Digital Chi Onwurah, and Starship Technologies' VP of Marketing Henry Harris-Burlan watch a Co-op supermarket worker load groceries into a Starship delivery robot on July 23, 2020 in Milton Keynes, England. Darren Staples/Getty Images

NEW YORK—Walmart is laying off the robots it had deployed in about 500 stores to keep tabs on what’s on and not on the shelves.

The retailer said Monday it has ended its relationship with startup Bossa Nova Robotics, which builds roving robots equipped with cameras for identifying out-of-stock and misplaced products.