Automated store with limited hours, products opens in South Clinton
Rodney King, left, retrieves a package of cookies from the automated system in his Autobodit store on Clinch Avenue in South Clinton, as his son Ben stands by. The system picked up the bin holding the cookies and delivered it to the spot where King is standing. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
For now, it is mostly just a novelty that is being used to demonstrate its concept for potential purchasers of the system.
Called “Autobotit,” the store offers no-contact shopping for a few basic food and sundry items, such as those found in a hotel gift shop, using state-of-the-art robotics equipment designed and built by its owner, former Oak Ridge science teacher Rodney King.
Orders can be made and paid for online at Autobotit.com, and picked up in the lobby of the building, after being organized and readied for delivery completely by automation, King said.
The home page on the website says, “Autobotit is creating a retail-focused automated storage and retrieval system that will reduce or eliminate sales labor costs, prevent theft of merchandise and provide customers with a better overall experience.”
Once on the website, a customer can order by clicking “Store” on the upper right side of the home page. Payment may be made using credit or debit cards.
The selection is limited for now to a few items, such as packages of Oreo cookies, soap, facial tissues, ground coffee, bottled water, toothbrushes, toothpaste, Skittles, trash bags, Tide pods, razors, shaving cream, feminine hygiene products, toilet tissue, over-the-counter pain relievers, batteries, dry roasted peanuts, M&Ms (plain and peanut), dog treats, and Cheetos, King said.
For now, operating hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except on federal holidays.
Eventually, no one will have to go inside the building to pick up an order, said King, who has been working on the project since obtaining a building permit for it from the city of Clinton in March 2022.
“It’s perfect, say for a woman with her hair in curlers and a baby in the back seat,” he said earlier. “Order on your phone, and show up here, and the automation equipment delivers it to you, ready to go. Nothing is touched by human hands during the process.”
For now, there are no refrigerated items, such as milk, but they could be added in the future, King said.
Autobotit is a start-up business conceived by King during the time he was an eighth-grade science teacher in Oak Ridge.
“I taught science for 16 years, and was involved in the middle-school robotics program,” King said. “Our robotics team won the state title twice, and went to world competition three times.
“I thought of this while doing the robotics thing,” he said. “It seems like the time has come for contactless delivery [of groceries].”
Of course, humans will have to keep the store stocked, but “once the goods are stocked, they won’t be touched by human hands again until after the customer gets them,” he said.
What pushed King over the line to begin working on his new store, he said, was a trip to a local fast-food restaurant, where the store employee messed up his order three times.
“I got mad at the kid at Hardee’s and told him he could be replaced [by a machine],” King said.
His electronics-engineer son is helping him with the automation, and his lawyer son is helping him obtain patents on the equipment, King said.
King plans to use the South Clinton location mostly as a clinic to demonstrate his automation processes to potential customers, such as convenience-store chains.
The site was once a TV repair shop. King put up a new, small building on the lot to house his store, but he said it will have to remain a drive-up operation rather than a drive-through, because he doesn’t have enough land for a drive-through lane.
King, who was born in Jefferson City, grew up in East Tennessee, he said, adding that his father worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority.
“I was in the Navy, serving on submarines, and then I went into teaching when I got out,” he said.
The shop officially opened Friday, Aug. 30, and King said it was a busy day for him and his sons.
“We had a bunch of customers here, but they were mostly family and friends,” he said.