Elrond Network, a custom blockchain application platform, and Neurolabs, developers of automated machine vision retail checkout technology, today announced a research and development partnership. The two companies will focus on building solutions that leverage the advantages of computer vision and blockchain technology to enable meaningful automation in retail environments.
By integrating the capabilities of computer vision product recognition with blockchain-powered payment and supply chain tracking, the partnership seeks to create complex solutions that will reduce in-store checkout times, “shrinkage” of inventory due to shoplifting or human errors, and increase overall efficiency through innovative payment solutions, all while ensuring data protection.
“Increasingly automated and digitized processes bring a lot of benefits for retail operators and their customers, but they also create an increasing amount of related data. By integrating with Elrond blockchain tech, we look forward to adding a layer of customer privacy & supply chain transparency to our solutions.”
– Neurolabs CEO, Paul Pop
The unmanned automated retail sector has experienced a lot of growth, with the automated kiosk markets being estimated to grow to $34bn by 2023, in the US alone. Since 2016, when Amazon launched its Go fully automated shops, a lot of other large retailers have followed suit, with Alibaba, Auchan, 7-Eleven and others each piloting their own visions.
“The Neurolabs solution has the potential to outperform its competitors with an excellent combination of simple design and efficient algorithms. Complementing it with a blockchain layer of trust makes perfect sense.”
– Elrond Network CEO, Beniamin Mincu