Within the Innovative Retail Laboratory (IRL), an application-oriented research laboratory of the DFKI, innovative technologies for the retail of tomorrow are researched in close cooperation with Globus experts. The close cooperation enables a focus on the specific requirements and potentials of future hypermarkets and accelerates the transfer of research results into practice. The activities are not only focused on concepts and technologies that only consider the hypermarket of the future as a place of shopping, but the relationship of the supermarket to its customers begins before shopping through individual purchase preparation and personalized offer presentation at home and is also continued after shopping through individual services.
At the IRL, research is conducted on topics related to intelligent shopping advisors and value-added services for customers, (service) robotics, logistics support, analytics, forecasting, optimization, and employee support through cognitive assistants, as well as testing them for their suitability for everyday use and the achievable benefits for the target groups. Innovative technologies such as indoor localization, smart labels, augmented and virtual reality, AI-supported image recognition and many more allow a visionary view of the retail of the future.
The IRL provides a unique infrastructure for intelligent shopping environments on an area of 500 sqm. In the context of selected events and guided tours, the public is invited to experience demonstrators, developments and outlooks on the future of shopping.
Prof. Dr. Antonio Krüger