TECHNO

Efficiency And Safety In The Workplace

New technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are being adopted by fashion retailers to combat the worst impacts of the pandemic. Chris Partridge explains

AI in particular is bringing new power to online shops, allowing shoppers to get their measurements taken remotely so they can choose and even try on gowns in cyberspace. If they are in search of their dream wedding gown, they will, of course, want to make that appointment to and enjoy the experience that only bricks and mortar bridal retailers can deliver but the number of visits can be cut down substantially if both the style and the fit have been established beforehand.

Once in the shop, brides and their supporter/s can be served at least initially by cute moving robots that can take their details, show them onscreen catalogues and help them with frequently asked questions. In this industry,they are highly unlikely to replace human sales staff, but they may be able to reduce face-to-face contact to more manageable levels.

And, in the background, technology for sanitisation is becoming available to protect both clients and staff without transforming the shop into a dental surgery with frocks. AI is the way computers use a mass of data from the real world to learn how to do things. Your smartphone’s camera uses AI to adjust the settings to get the best possible image - low light images are now so much better than they used to be because AI systems have ‘learned’ how to extract all the detail needed from dark images to extract detail from the shadows.

Many companies now use AI to take measurements of the human body from photos, so shoppers can upload pictures they take with their phones and the machine will extract all the measurements required to an accuracy rivalling a human with a tape measure. The AI can do this because it looks at the whole body, effectively taking measurements from all over and combining that information to establish the standard measurements needed to order or reserve a garment.

Fast and accurate

US startup 3DLOOK has developed an AI-based system that can measure up a shopper in minutes, without having to run a tape over them. The customer goes to your website, and props their phone in a vertical position on a table or chair. The system communicates with the customer by voice to eliminate the need to press buttons, getting the customer to stand in the right place and adopt the right stance to take two shots, one from the front and the other from the side. The system generates a host of measurements within minutes. 3DLOOK claims their measurements are accurate enough to create cutting patterns from, raising the interesting possibility of creating bespoke gowns for clients you have never met in the flesh.

Called Mobile Tailor, the system works entirely in the phone’s browser so no app is required and the client can be reassured the images will be deleted immediately the measurements are generated. It is a subscription service, prices starting at $99 a month for up to 50 measured customers in that month - see 3DLOOK.me for details. The system can even create an avatar of the customer that can be ‘dressed’ with animated images of stock designs to show exactly what the effect will be even in motion. Apart from the speed and efficiency, you can tell in minutes what you have in stock for that bride.

Safety in numbers

In the shop, safety can be maintained using online booking systems for appointments and queuing software such as Qudini to ensure that only a safe and legal number of customers can enter at one time.

Another level of protection for staff is a combined sanitisation station and temperature sensing camera, but that is probably unnecessary while masks are mandatory indoors.

Retail technologists have been hyping robot sales assistants for some years, but the pandemic has focused attention of them as a way of limiting face-to-face contact between clients

Efficiency And Safety In The Workplace

and staff. One of the latest is Temi, a screen on wheels that can talk and navigate round a room using sensors like those fitted in self-driving cars. The screen has a camera and speakers, and uses Amazon’s personal assistant Alexa to enable users to ask it questions or give it instructions, but the screen can also display the face of a human operator who can be located anywhere - Temi is now appearing in many care homes to enable residents to keep up with friends and family even in isolation. A Temi could be used in a shop to greet customers, offer them coffee

carried on its shelf, and allow them to browse the catalogue while relaxing on the sofa. It could even take the client’s measurements using 3DLOOK. The customer does not have to touch it at all.

Temi will be available in the UK soon at a cost of around £2,500 - see robotemi.com for more. Now that it is understood that the main infection route is by airborne water droplets rather than surfaces, it is essential to maximise ventilation in your premises. An added precaution would be to install ultra-violet air purifiers such as the Purelight Flow UV-C. It looks like a fluorescent

light fitting, but contains UV light sources that are lethal to viruses. Air is pumped along the tube and passed through a carbon filter to remove dead viruses as well as bacteria and other microorganisms. Two versions are available, one with an internal UV light that can be left on all the time to purify the air constantly, the other with an external light that bathes the room in UV to kill viruses on surfaces - but that can only be switched on when the place is unoccupied. The Purelight Flow costs £273 from leddirect.co.uk.