NEW YORK (AP) – Walmart is enlisting the help of robots to keep up with a surge in online orders. The company said Wednesday that it plans to build warehouses at its stores where self-driving robots will fetch groceries and have them ready for shoppers to pick up in less than an hour. Walmart declined to say how many of the warehouses it will build, but construction has started at stores in Lewisville, Texas; Plano, Texas; American Fork, Utah; and Bentonville, Arkansas, where Walmart’s corporate offices are based. Walmart hopes the warehouses will speed up curbside pickups. Both options became increasingly popular last year as virus-weary shoppers avoided going inside stores.
