Walmart will use VR headsets to train all its US employees
By the end of the year, it plans to have more than 17,000 Oculus Go headsets in use to help train workers.
By the numbers: Next month, the company will begin sending four headsets to every Walmart supercenter and two units to every Neighborhood Market and discount store in the US. That doesn’t sounds like many, but Walmart is sending them to 4,700 stores, meaning a pretty big bulk order.
What they will be used for: The headsets will train associates in everything from operating new technology on the shop floor to soft skills like empathy and customer service.The actual teaching content has been designed for the retailer by startup Strivr.
Some background: Walmart has been testing out virtual reality for a while. It’s used the technology in its Walmart Academy training centers and to prepare its employees for Black Friday. In advance of this larger rollout, 10 stores used VR over the summer for training workers on new devices that let customers automatically pick up their orders in a store.
Scaling up: So far, Walmart is a rare success story for VR. The retailer is investing in something virtual reality has struggled with: scale. This deployment of thousands of Oculus Go headsets for training could act as a proof of concept for other big corporations.
This article was first published in our future of work newsletter, Clocking In. You can sign up here.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.
And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.
The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.
Plug-in hybrids are often sold as a transition to EVs, but new data from Europe shows we’re still underestimating the emissions they produce.
Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch
Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.
How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets
When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.