Advances in self-service checkout system could soon bring about increased efficiency in the retail sector.

While self-service checkouts are hardly new, the rush to automate jobs which entail manual labour have reached new heights thanks to the efforts made by Lawson and Panasonic.

They’ve developed a new basket system which can bag the items once you have placed them inside.

Once the system determines what you have placed inside, the bottom of the basket slides out, allowing your chosen good to fall in a bag underneath. The basket then slides away, so that you could pick up the bag and walk away.

The system is still work-in-progress. The experimental “Regirobo” still needs tinkering. For once, you have to manually scan the items before placing them in the basket.

In February 2017, electronic tags will be introduced so that the items can be automatically detected.

As of now, the Regirobo is being tried only in a single store opposite Panasonic’s headquarters in Osaka, Japan. If the trial is successful, the company will pursue a broader rollout sometime in 2018.

This collaboration between Panasonic and Lawson follows in the footsteps of Amazon Go, which arguably is a more complex and ambitious grocery store shopping system.

Amazon is aiming to remove the entire checkout process by simplifying the process entirely using a mix of “computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning.”

All Amazon wants you to do is launch its app, and swipe it across a terminal so that it can detect what is inside it. The app will detect what you have picked up and add it to your virtual cart.

All you have to do is place the items in the same bag as you walk out. Like Panasonic’s system, the concept is currently being restricted to just 1 store on Blanchard Street, Seattle, where its being tried out.

Till these systems come of age, convenience store jobs will still remain in human hands. Once the system matures, and it’s launched globally, it’s going to have a major impact in the form of employment in the retail sector.