Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

AI Slam Dunk: Startup's Checkout-Free Stores Provide Stadiums Fast Refreshments

14/05/2021

With live sports making a comeback, one thing remains a constant: Nobody likes to miss big plays while waiting in line for a cold drink or snack.

Zippin offers sports fans checkout-free refreshments, and it's racking up wins among stadiums as well as retailers, hotels, apartments and offices. The startup, based in San Francisco, develops image-recognition models that run on the NVIDIA Jetson edge AI platform to help track customer purchases.

People can simply enter their credit card details into the company's app, scan into a Zippin-driven store, grab a cold one and any snacks, and go. Their receipt is available in the app afterwards. Customers can also bypass the app and simply use a credit card to enter the stores and Zippin automatically keeps track of their purchases and charges them.

We don't want fans to be stuck waiting in line, said Motilal Agrawal, co-founder and chief scientist at Zippin.

As sports and entertainment venues begin to reopen in limited capacities, Zippin's grab-and-go stores are offering quicker shopping and better social distancing without checkout lines.

Zippin is a member of NVIDIA Inception, a virtual accelerator program that helps startups in AI and data science get to market faster. The Inception team met with us, loaned us our first NVIDIA GPU and gave us guidance on NVIDIA SDKs for our application, he said.

Streak of Stadiums Zippin has launched in three stadiums so far, all in the U.S. It's in negotiations to develop checkout-free shopping for several other major sports venues in the country.

In March, the San Antonio Spurs' AT&T Center reopened with limited capacity for the NBA season, unveiling a Zippin-enabled Drink MKT beverage store. Basketball fans can scan in with the Zippin mobile app or use their credit card, grab drinks and go. Cameras and shelves with scales identify purchases to automatically charge customers.

The debut in San Antonio comes after Zippin came to Mile High Stadium, in Denver, in November, for limited capacity Broncos games. Before that, Zippin unveiled its first stadium, the Golden 1 Center, in Sacramento. It allows customers to purchase popcorn, draft beer and other snacks and drinks and is open for Sacramento Kings basketball games and concerts.

Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of checkout-free stores, and sporting venues are the ideal location to benefit from our approach, Agrawal said.

Zippin Store Advances In addition to stadiums, Zippin has launched stores within stores for grab-and-go food and beverages in Lojas Americanas, a large retail chain in Brazil.

In Russia, the startup has put a store within a store inside an Azbuka Vkusa supermarket chain store located in Moscow. Zippin is also in Japan, where it has a pilot store in Tokyo with Lawson, a convenience store chain in an office location and another store within the Yokohama Techno Tower Hotel.

As an added benefit for retailers, Zippin's platform can track products to help automate inventory management.

We provide a retailer dashboard to see how much inventory there is for each individual item and which items have run low on stock. We can help to know exactly how much is in the store - all these detailed analytics are part of our offering, Agrawal said.

Jetson Processing Zippin relies on the NVIDIA Jetson AI platform for inference at 30 frames per second for its models, enabling split-second decisions on customer purchases. The application's processing speed means it can keep up with a crowded store.

The company runs convolutional neural networks for product identification and store location identification to help track customer purchases. Also, using Zippin's retail implementations, stores utilize smart shelves to determine whether a product was removed or replaced on a shelf.

The NVIDIA edge AI-driven platform can then process the shelf data and the video data together - sensor fusion - to determine almost instantly who grabbed what.

It can deploy and work effectively on two out of three sensors (visual, weight and location) and then figure out the products on the fly, with training ongoing in action in deployment to improve the system, said Agrawal.
LINK: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2021/05/14/startups-ai-driven-stores-giv...
See more stories from nvidia

North America Stories

12/05/2026

Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026

Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...

12/05/2026

G&D and CT Square Establish Joint Venture for India and Middle East Distribution

Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...

12/05/2026

Telemundo Reports Record Advertiser Demand for FIFA World Cup 2026 Coverage

With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...

12/05/2026

NHLs Stanley Pup Returns for Third Year on June 8

The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...

12/05/2026

NBCUniversal Outlines Ad Technology and Content Strategy at 2026 Upfront

NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...

12/05/2026

FOX Sports Funds Fandom Research Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School

FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...

12/05/2026

TNDV and Live Media Support NCAA Final Four Weekend for 13th Consecutive Year

TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...

12/05/2026

European Football Alliance Signs Distribution Agreement with Fubo Sports Network

The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...

12/05/2026

ESPN, TelevisaUnivision Ink Deal to Produce Additional Spanish-Language Super Bowl LXI Telecast

For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...

12/05/2026

CP Communications Manages RF Spectrum for Kentucky Derby Week

CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...

12/05/2026

LiveU and DRONERESPONDERS Announce Partnership for Public Safety Drone Video Transmission

LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...

12/05/2026

BMC TV Selects Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway for Horse Racing Transmissions

Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...

12/05/2026

NEP Europe to Deliver Broadcast Solutions for Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna

NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...

12/05/2026

Grass Valley Expands Collaboration with Ravensbourne University London on Media Production Education

Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...

12/05/2026

Stats Perform Launches Opta Pulse AI-Assisted Video Creation Platform

Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...

12/05/2026

FOX Sports and Sesame Workshop Announce Collaboration for FIFA World Cup 2026

FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...

12/05/2026

Little Show, Giant Heart: NHL in ASL Earns Two Sports Emmy Nominations in 2026

To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...

12/05/2026

At Its Annual Brandcast, YouTube Aims To Show Why Sports Is No Longer Just the Game

Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...

12/05/2026

Your Next Double Feature: Old Joy and Past Lives

A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...

12/05/2026

CNN Pushes Into Lifestyle Products with CNN Weather' App Launch

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/05/2026

Marshall Electronics Cameras Elevate Elite Equestrian Com...

Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...

12/05/2026

IBC2026 registration opens as international media industr...

Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...

12/05/2026

Ross Video Showcases Unified Production Workflows at Broa...

Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...

12/05/2026

With over 50bn euros in assets under management and recor...

500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...

12/05/2026

Randy Koeman Joins CVP as Part of Continued European Expa...

CVP, one of Europe's leading suppliers of professional video and broadcast solutions, has appointed Randy Koeman as Sales Manager, Netherlands, marking anot...

12/05/2026

Taiwan Television selects PlayBox Neo Suite multi-channel...

Taiwan Television has expanded its HD content ingest workflow capabilities by investing in the PlayBox Neo Suite - a leading multi-channel multi-server UHD/HD/S...

12/05/2026

Jigsaw24 Appoints Tom Laker and Ashish Chauhan to Support...

Jigsaw24 is strengthening its media team with the appointment of Tom Laker as Client Director and Ashish Chauhan as Project Manager. These strategic hires bring...

12/05/2026

Pebble brings future-ready playout innovation to Broadcas...

Broadcast playout leader showcases hybrid IP infrastructure and workflow automation with Videoland deployment as regional benchmark...

12/05/2026

dzjinius to Showcase All-in-one Production Management Pla...

dzjinius, the all-in-one production management platform for the media and entertainment industry, will showcase its centralised approach to production workflows...

12/05/2026

G&D and CT Square Launch New Joint Venture in India

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/05/2026

Congress Urged to Protect Live Sports on Broadcast TV

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/05/2026

Roku to Stream Inaugural Enhanced Games in North America

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/05/2026

Austrian Broadcaster Selects Lawo, SLG Broadcast for Studio Upgrade

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/05/2026

NUGEN Audio Debuts Enhanced DialogCheck at MPTS 2026

NUGEN Audio will debut Version 1.1 of DialogCheck, its intelligent dialog intelligibility and compliance tool, at the 2026 Media Production & Technology Show (S...

12/05/2026

Disguise Powers Interactive LED Castle for Laura Pausini

The reactive visuals can adapt to any stage or screen setup and comprise 50 layers of Notch content Today, Disguise announced that its high performance GX 3 m...

12/05/2026

DoPchoice Intros Light-Shaping Accessories for ARRI Omnib...

Snapgrid , Snapbag & Airglow Expand Creative Control for the ARRI Modular LED BarFollowing the launch of the ARRI Omnibar, DoPchoice introduces a dedicated li...

12/05/2026

Tribeca Festival Unveils 2026 Games Program

May 12th, 2026 Press Materials Available Here TRIBECA FESTIVAL UNVEILS 2026 GAMES PROGRAM Tribeca Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary With World Premieres and Pl...

12/05/2026

Madonna Brings The World Premiere Of Confessions II To 2026 Tribeca Festival

May 12th, 2026 Press Materials Available Here MADONNA BRINGS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF CONFESSIONS II TO 2026 TRIBECA FESTIVAL The Global Icon Will Unveil a Cine...

12/05/2026

Macarena Garca and Carlos Cuevas star in 'El Acercamiento de la Mujer Cactus y el Hombre Globo'

Back to All News Macarena Garc a and Carlos Cuevas star in El Acercamiento de l...

12/05/2026

Netflix Unveils Documentary on Norway's 26-Year Journey to This Year's World Cup

Back to All News Netflix Unveils Documentary on Norway's 26-Year Journey to...

12/05/2026

The Netflix Effect

Back to All News The Netflix Effect Ted Sarandos co-CEO Social Impact 12 May 2026 Global Link copied to clipboard Download all assets Ten years ago, Ne...

12/05/2026

News Test

This is my news content...

12/05/2026

NVIDIA and SAP Bring Trust to Specialized Agents

From finance and procurement to supply chain and manufacturing, specialized AI agents are moving into the enterprise systems where business decisions are made, ...

11/05/2026

Ross Production Services 48-Foot HyperMax-1 Truck Quickly in Demand

New production unit features not only wealth of Ross gear but also Sony cameras, Canon lenses, and a Calrec Argo S audio board...

11/05/2026

Solid State Logic Launches TCA Tour Portable Audio Production System

Solid State Logic (SSL) has announced TCA Tour, a portable fly-away audio production system built from System T components for broadcast, touring, and live prod...

11/05/2026

Riedel Communications Named Official Connectivity Integration Provider for Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games

Riedel Communications has announced it will serve as Official Connectivity Integ...

11/05/2026

G&D and NETGEAR AV Launch KVM-over-IP Plugin for Automated Network Configuration

Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and NETGEAR AV have announced a plugin that automates network configuration for G&D KVM-over-IP deployments on NETGEAR AV Line infra...

11/05/2026

The Famous Group and Elite Edge Announce Unified Ownership

The Famous Group (TFG) and Elite Edge, a production studio specializing in live-action production, show opens, set design, and fabrication for sports and live e...

11/05/2026

SVG All-Stars: Odair Auger, Tech Project Manager, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises

The native of S o Paulo, Brazil, will play a crucial role in the broadcaster'...

11/05/2026

Cobalt Digital to Showcase IPMX/ST 2110 Ecosystem at BroadcastAsia 2026

Cobalt Digital will exhibit its IPMX/ST 2110 product lineup at BroadcastAsia 2026 (Stand 5D2-4), anchored by the COBALT blueCORE family of standalone signal pro...