The Physical AI Platform for Retail
AI can’t fix what it can’t see.
Simbe continuously understands what's happening inside physical stores, then helps retailers take action and verify it got done. One platform brings autonomous robotics, computer vision, RFID and edge AI together.
What is physical AI in retail?
Physical AI is artificial intelligence that can see and act in the physical world, not just analyze data about it.
Simbe's physical intelligence platform connects robotics, computer vision, RFID, sensors, and edge AI to continuously understand what’s happening in stores and on the shelf.
Based on what matters most for that particular retailer, it orchestrates the most appropriate corrective response and verifies confirmed outcomes.
Know what's on the shelf. Not what your systems say is there.
3,000+
robots and counting
60B+
shelf images captured and analyzed
Only
UL 3300-certified retail robot
10+ years
building physical AI for retail
One platform, every store.
Physical AI is the foundation for retail's next era: Simbe detects shelf conditions, determines what matters, directs the work, and double-checks it got done turning store reality into intelligence the enterprise can act on.
Detect
Tally, Tally Spot, and Tally RFID continuously capture and digitize physical store conditions.
Determine
Simbe Vision™ reads those signals against a decade of proprietary observations to find what changed and what needs attention first.
Direct
Applications, role-based workflows, APIs, and integrations turn intelligence into action for store teams, merchants, and operators.
Double Check
Simbe continuously observes the store, confirming the work was completed and the shelf changed as intended.
The operating & orchestration layer for retail
Every deployment expands what Simbe knows to be true inside stores: shelf conditions, how they change over time, and the patterns that emerge across entire chains. That ground truth powers a growing set of applications, workflows, AI agents and connected devices. It's the physical intelligence layer for increasingly autonomous store operations.
Not all physical AI is built the same
Physical AI in retail takes several forms. Each approach captures a piece of the store. Mobile robots are the foundation, with fixed sensors and RFID extending coverage. Only Simbe captures all of it, every day.
Approach | Limitation | The Simbe Difference |
Handheld and manual scanning | Depends on store associate time. Coverage varies with staffing, shift changes, and other priorities that day. | Tally, Tally Spot and Tally RFID autonomously scan every aisle and rack on a set cadence, finding 10x more out of stocks. Store teams get a prioritized list of what needs to be done. |
Fixed sensing only | Requires hundreds of mounted units, plus a planogram to tell them what should be on the shelf. Reads each shelf from one distant angle that a pallet or shopper can block. | One plug, three square feet. Tally and Tally RFID read every shelf and tag from multiple angles, and Tally Spot adds fixed coverage where sales are fastest. Simbe Vision builds the realogram and flags what to fix. |
Cart-based scanning | Sees only the aisles shoppers walk, and only when they choose to use a smart cart. Reads the shelf in passing, from a distance and can easily be blocked. | Simbe covers every part of the store, including the parts shoppers skip, achieving 99% shelf label identification accuracy. Every capture updates the same view store teams, merchants and retailer systems work from. |
Ground truth comes from store coverage. Coverage takes a platform.
"We are at an inflection point where robotics and AI can truly change how retail operations work."
SVP of Stores, Data, AI & Innovation
Leading home improvement retailer
“Tally provides the validated, consistent, and curated data points necessary to optimize AI model performance.”
Tom Henry
Chief Data & Information Officer, Schnuck Markets
“Retailers are increasingly deploying physical intelligence across the enterprise. Simbe’s 3,000 unit milestone reflects that shift: trusted shelf-level data is becoming foundational to store operations, digital commerce, merchandising and supply chain decisions.”
Deborah Weinswig
Founder & CEO, Coresight Research
“What works once in a lab doesn’t often work in the real world, and it’s brutally hard to build robotics that operate reliably across thousands of stores for the world’s largest retailers. Simbe is the real deal. In a category full of promise, they’re one of the rare companies delivering at global scale—showing how physical AI is becoming essential infrastructure for retail.”
Aidan Madigan-Curtis
General Partner, Eclipse Ventures
“Retail is one of the clearest proving grounds for physical AI at commercial scale, and this is just the beginning. A decade of operating autonomously in stores has given us the foundation to think far beyond the robot. We’re building the physical intelligence layer that enables retailers to understand and operate stores with greater autonomy.”
Brad Bogolea
Co-founder & CEO, Simbe
Physical AI FAQs
Physical AI in retail is intelligence that operates in the physical world of stores, using sensors, computer vision, robotics, and AI models to continuously read shelf conditions, determine what matters, and direct the response. Unlike traditional retail AI that works from sales or inventory records, physical AI captures what's happening live in stores, turning physical reality into real-time intelligence retailers can trust.
Traditional retail AI analyzes records and reports. Generative AI creates content or conversation. Physical AI operates in the physical world: it sees, understands, and acts on real store conditions. In retail, physical AI provides the ground truth that other AI systems and workflows depend on to be accurate.
Every channel in the retail industry, from in-store to e-commerce, delivery and retail media, depends on the same reality: what's on the shelf. Without accurate, continuous visibility into physical store conditions, AI systems make decisions on incomplete data. Physical AI closes that gap and gives retailers a foundation for operational efficiency, a better shopping experience, and increasingly autonomous workflows.
Physical AI shows up first at the shelf: on-shelf availability, inventory management, price and promotion accuracy, planogram compliance, and product location. From there it extends into online order picking, labor prioritization, and daily store operations. The same ground truth improves decisions further out, from supply chain and forecasting to retail media measurement.
Store teams have never lacked data. What they have lacked is a reliable way to know which task matters most right now. AI orchestration turns continuous store observation into prioritized work, then confirms it was completed. It frees associates from manual audits, so more of their time goes to customer service. Over time, the same intelligence can direct software agents and connected devices, not just people.
Three come up most often. Infrastructure burden, when an approach needs wall-to-wall hardware or a planogram to function. Data trust, when accuracy varies enough that store teams stop believing the system. And adoption, when a tool adds work instead of removing it. Simbe was built around all three: one plug and three square feet, every shelf read up close from multiple angles, and 90%+ of store managers who say it makes their jobs better. Adoption is what carries operational gains through to customer satisfaction.
Simbe combines autonomous robotics, fixed cameras, RFID, computer vision, edge AI, and enterprise integrations into one vertically integrated platform. It's the only physical AI platform deployed at global enterprise scale across grocery, club, home improvement, apparel, and specialty retail, backed by a decade of proprietary physical retail observations no other platform has.
Tally can be operational in less than one day. It requires only three square feet of floor space, one plug, and no planogram or shelf-edge dependency. Retailers can see actionable insights after the first traversal.