Meet Marty, a tall gray robot with googly eyes — and Giant's newest employee

Giant food stores has a new employee of the month coming to town, and his name is Marty.

Marty is not the typical sales associate though, he's a a bit more complex — more engineered to say the least.

He's a tall gray robot with googly eyes actually, and he'll soon be working alongside associates in all 172 of Giant's stores, according to a company news release.

Marty is designed to identify hazards, such as liquid, powder and bulk-food-item spills and provide reporting that enables quick corrective action. 

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The idea is to free up associates, so they can spend more time serving customers. 

For the last year, Giant has been piloting Marty and the in-store robotic program at its Harrisburg and Carlisle locations. The robot is the result of a partnership between Ahold Delhaize USA services company Retail Business Services, Giant, and Jabil subsidiary Badger Technologies.

“Bringing robotics and A.I. from a research lab to the sales floor has been a very exciting journey, and we were thrilled by the customer response in our pilot stores,” said Nicholas Bertram, president, Giant Food Stores. “Our associates have worked hard to bring this innovation to life with amazing partners.”

Marty is expected to be serving customers in all locations by mid-2019, according to the news release.