A 7-Eleven customer's order for Slurpees, a chicken sandwich, donuts, hot coffee, and candy will forever go down in history. What makes it remarkable is that the convenience store chain used a drone to deliver the order to a family in Reno, Nev., 7-Eleven said on Friday. The company partnered with drone startup Flirtey for the delivery, which the companies said was the first time a drone has legally delivered a package to a U.S. resident who placed an order from a retailer. "This delivery required special flight planning, risk analysis, and detailed flight procedures ensuring residential safety and privacy were equally integrated," Chris Walach, the director of operations for the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS), said in a statement. The NIAS is a Nevada government-backed non-profit autonomous vehicle advocacy group that helped oversee the delivery.

NEW YORK, NY - 20 Jul 2016: Today, Macy's announced the pilot of "Macy's On Call," a mobile web tool that allows customers to interact with an AI-powered platform, via their mobile devices. "Macy's On Call" taps IBM (NYSE: IBM) Watson, via Satisfi, an intelligent engagement platform, to deliver a first-of-its-kind solution that will enhance the customer in-store shopping experience at 10 test locations nationwide. A Macy's team member tests out Macy's On Call, a new mobile web tool powered by IBM Watson and Satisfi. Macy's On Call allows customers to input questions in natural language about each participating store's unique product assortment, services and facilities and then receive a customized response to the inquiry. Macy's is currently piloting the new tool in 10 store locations across the country.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Macy's (NYSE:M) announced the pilot of "Macy's On Call," a mobile web tool that allows customers to interact with an AI-powered platform via their mobile devices. "Macy's On Call" taps IBM Watson, via Satisfi, an intelligent engagement platform, to deliver a first-of-its-kind solution that will enhance the customer in-store shopping experience at 10 test locations nationwide. The mobile companion, accessed via a mobile browser, allows customers to input natural language questions regarding each participating store's unique product assortment, services and facilities and receive a customized response to the inquiry. There are a number of ways that customers may request information. For example, a customer could type, "Where are the women's shoes?" or type a combination of brand and product inquiry such as "I.N.C dress," and they will receive the relevant response and location of that product in the store.

It's being dubbed the Fourth Industrial Revolution: the explosion of robots, machines, algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace is coming. There's been a lot of recent speculation about how robotics and automation will change the landscape of employment, and the professions that could become obsolete as a result. We're all familiar with those annoying "unexpected item in the bagging area" self-service supermarket checkouts, or the big robots used on the production line in factories making cars and other complex products. In the supermarket, now just one checkout assistant can manage 6 or more tills, or cars and machines can be assembled safely, with every one being turned out to the same standard. So what jobs will be next on the chopping block in this technological revolution? By and large, the main professions under threat are ones that involve repetitive tasks – that could be inputting data, preparing spreadsheets and reports and other administrative duties, retail jobs, manufacturing and even some more complex analytical roles that could be better served by an algorithm doing all the hard work.

Note the similarities between this business model and an online supermarket (online retailers). Discounting other factors, such as distribution logistics and differences in regulations, the fundamentals are the same: a commoditised online offering with no'human touch' at the point of sale. Even consumer demographics are similar – young, tech-savvy professionals, looking for cheaper, easy-to-use and anytime/anywhere self-service options. Online supermarkets use extensive segmentation analysis and branding to acquire and retain customers. A seamless integration of data, analytics and technology enables a personalised shopping experience.

The tool, which the nation's largest department store chain calls a "mobile companion," can be accessed for now through a browser and will accept questions in 10 U.S. locations about products, services and facilities. It uses natural language and offers feedback in seconds. It's developed by IBM Watson -- the Jeopardy-winning "cognitive computing" service and is designed to keep learning more about the store's customers. That's a key element as Macy's seeks to spur sluggish sales, make being at the store more enjoyable and distinguish itself from online portals and specialty retailers. "We want to improve the shopping experience. We want the customers to shop at Macy's and come back," Serena Potter, Macy's group vice president of digital media strategy told The Associated Press.

US department store Macy's have announced the pilot of "Macy's On Call," a mobile web tool that allows customers to interact with an AI-powered platform, via their mobile devices. "Macy's On Call" leverages IBM's Watson technology, via Satisfi, an intelligent engagement platform, to deliver a first-of-its-kind solution that will enhance the customer in-store shopping experience at 10 test locations nationwide. The mobile companion, accessed via a mobile browser, allows customers to input natural language questions regarding each participating store's unique product assortment, services and facilities and receive a customized response to the inquiry. There are a number of ways that customers may request information. For example, a customer could type, "Where are the ladies shoes?" or type a combination of brand and product inquiry such as "INC dress," and they will receive the relevant response and location of that product in the store.

It won't help you find Pikachu, but a new mobile tool from Macy's will assist shoppers in navigating the store. The department store retailer is piloting "Macy's On Call," a solution that lets in-store customers use their mobile phones to interact with an artificial intelligence (AI) platform powered by IBM Watson. The Satisfi intelligent engagement platform provides the connection between the mobile tool and the Watson platform. Macy's On Call, accessed via a mobile browser, allows customers to input natural language questions about the store's unique product assortment, services and facilities. These can include store navigation details, as well offerings such as the myStylist personal shopper program and buy-online-pickup-in-store counters.

Recent advances in deep learning have enabled research and industry to master many challenges in computer vision and natural language processing that were out of reach until just a few years ago. Yet computer vision and natural language processing represent only the tip of the iceberg of what is possible. In this article, I will demonstrate how Sebastian Heinz, Roland Vollgraf and I (Calvin Seward) used deep neural networks in steering operations at Zalando's fashion warehouses. As Europe's leading online fashion retailer, there are many exciting opportunities to apply the latest results from data science, statistics, and high-performance computing. Zalando's vertically integrated business model means that I have dealt with projects as diverse as computer vision, fraud detection, recommender systems and, of course, warehouse management.

Macy's is testing a mobile tool using artificial intelligence that lets shoppers get answers customized to the store they're in -- like where a particular brand is located or what's in stock -- that they would normally ask a sales associate face-to-face. The tool, which the nation's largest department store chain calls a "mobile companion," can be accessed for now through a browser and will accept questions in 10 U.S. locations about products, services and facilities. It uses natural language and offers feedback in seconds. It's developed by IBM Watson -- the Jeopardy-winning "cognitive computing" service and is designed to keep learning more about the store's customers. That's a key element as Macy's seeks to spur sluggish sales, make being at the store more enjoyable and distinguish itself from online portals and specialty retailers.