Portuguese firm Sensei debuted its autonomous supermarket at last week’s NRF Big Show in New York including real-time basket technology and an autonomous experience with assisted sales.

“Sensei’s technology goes beyond eliminating checkout lines, it enhances the entire shopping journey while providing retailers with invaluable real-time data to optimise their operations,” said Vasco Portugal, CEO of Sensei. “We’re excited to bring this transformation to larger scale supermarkets and challenge the retail industry with what’s possible.”

At NRF, Sensei showed a live demo of its autonomous store concept. Attendees experienced first-hand how Sensei’s technology creates a seamless shopping experience, combining:

• Autonomous grocery options: Consumers grab items such as cereal, milk or pasta, and their virtual basket updates in real time.
• Assisted sales integration: Retailers can redeploy staff from checkout queues to high-value roles, such as supporting bakery or deli operations.
• Smart integration: Automated systems such as coffee machines can be seamlessly incorporated into the autonomous ecosystem.

Sensei’s proprietary AI technology combines computer vision, machine learning and sensors to achieve 99% accuracy in tracking consumer interactions with products. Shoppers enjoy transparency as purchases are displayed in real time, eliminating the friction of scanning and queues.

Sensei announced at the show the opening of a 1200m² autonomous supermarket in Portugal, in partnership with MC (Sonae Group), the country’s leading grocery retailer. This achievement sets a benchmark for large-scale autonomous retail environments.

No app, card or registration is required to enter the store. The entry is open as in any regular supermarket. The store offers a range of products similar to a traditional supermarket, including weighable fruits and vegetables, a fish market with service, and bakery and pastry options sold in bulk.

Thanks to real-time basket technology, customers don’t need to scan products. At checkout, items automatically appear on the screen for confirmation, eliminating the need to remove products from bags or carts. The technology identifies discrepancies between what the customer picked up (for example fruits and vegetables) and what was actually weighted, ensuring greater control and accuracy throughout the shopping journey.

This retail environment integrates AI-powered computer vision, shelf sensors and real-time inventory tracking to provide accuracy and convenience for consumers while delivering behavioural insights and operational efficiencies for retailers.

Sensei (www.sensei.tech) provides autonomous retail technology, and was the first technology company to open fully autonomous stores in Europe, Latin America and Brazil. Through an infrastructure that combines AI, computer vision and sensor fusion, Sensei builds experiences that make shopping more intuitive and generate store metrics and performance insights for businesses.