Robotic stores from Sony

These Sony Robotic Stores come in two versions – a 4-foot wide model and the 8-foot wide version. So far, three of such kiosks have already been installed in Atlanta, Santa Rosa, and Boulder, with plans to increase the number of robotic stores to 10 before the year is over. Payment mode is available via credit/debit card only, effectively shutting off the under-18 market. An interesting idea mooted was the addition of a USB port to allow on-the-spot sales of MP3 files. Sony is experimenting with this idea because consumers have already warmed up to automated checkouts in grocery stores and online sales systems.