Let a robot pick out your breakfast cereal? - The Boston Globe

Exactly a century ago, a Tennessee entrepreneur named Clarence Saunders was granted a patent for a new idea that would disrupt retail by cutting jobs and costs at the same time. Though Saunders' name isn't well-known, you might have interacted with his invention in the past week or so: the self-service grocery store, where you choose your own items from the shelves. Before Saunders opened the first Piggly Wiggly in Memphis, customers would hand a shopping list to a clerk, who would assemble the order. It's an example of innovation that has endured. But in 2017, a group of entrepreneurs are starting to wonder whether more cost -- and more jobs -- could be wrung from the grocery business by having robots roam the aisles.