Ikea Employees Are Getting New AI Drone Coworkers in the U.S.

Ikea plans to introduce autonomous AI-enabled drones in its Perryville, Maryland, distribution center, according to a press release Friday. And while the Swedish company has been experimenting with drones globally since 2021, this is the first time those UAVs are going to be working alongside Ikea workers in the U.S. to do inventory checks and reduce the physical strain on human workers.

‘’The IKEA drones use an artificial intelligence-based algorithm to identify and photograph product storage locations,” Parag Parekh, Global CDO for IKEA Retail, said in a press release. “In addition, drone flights are pre-scheduled, utilizing a custom indoor positioning system to navigate higher levels of storage locations (for levels 3 and up). Equipped with obstacle detection capabilities, these drones can avoid collisions by rerouting their paths.”

The drones are made by Verity, which has videos on YouTube showing how they work. There are already 250 drones operating at 73 Ikea locations in nine countries, according to the company.

“The drones are a good example where we can achieve a win-win in both of these areas; by simplifying our processes in the logistics units, and hence, ensuring better inventory integrity leading to a better customer experience,” Claes Lindgren, who oversees global logistics at Ikea, said in a press release.

While Ikea is expanding its use of drones behind the scenes, other companies are scaling back the use of drones that interact directly with consumers. Walmart, for instance, announced Friday it was scaling back its use of drones dramatically, closing 18 delivery hubs in Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Tampa. Package delivery by drone will continue in Dallas-Fort Worth, according to a new report from Axios.

Seventy employees with Walmart’s drone partner DroneUp will lose their jobs, according to Axios, accounting for roughly 17% of the company’s staff. The problem right now is that delivery costs are simply too high when using drones to deliver packages directly to consumers. DroneUp’s CEO Tom Walker told Axios that it currently costs about $30 per delivery for a drone to send a package under their current system. The aim is to get that down to $7 one day, which would be closer to the cost for ground-based delivery systems. Obviously there are different financial considerations for drones that are used in distribution warehouses for inventory, as Ikea is now doing.

Ikea didn’t immediately respond to questions about the exact timing for its rollout of drones in the U.S. and how many distribution centers may be getting drones in the near future. Gizmodo will update this post if we hear back.