Augmodo
Augmodo is a Physical AI assistant for the physical workforce. We bring real-time information to 80% of the workforce that doesn't work behind a screen. The shelves, racks, plant lines, and delivery routes that no dashboard has ever really seen. We are live with major retailers and CPG brands across several countries, mapping over a billion square feet a year.
Physical AI is artificial intelligence that perceives physical space, remembers it, and reasons about the work happening inside it. Most AI operates on information that already lives on a screen. Physical AI builds its understanding from the real world instead: what's actually on a shelf, where a tool ended up, which rack is empty right now. The result is a live model of the space, accurate to the minute rather than to the last report. We deliver Physical AI through wearables, so the intelligence follows the people already doing the work.
Augmodo turns everyday frontline shifts into a live 3D map of physical spaces using lightweight wearable Smartbadges™. As employees walk around doing their normal jobs, the devices passively scan the environment to build a continuously updating picture of inventory, misplaced tools, and out-of-stock items, requiring zero extra effort or manual scanning from staff. That visual data feeds directly into our SpatialView™ dashboard, giving managers real-time search capabilities, automated reports, and full physical-world intelligence at a fraction of the cost of fixed cameras or robots.
The Smartbadge™ is a lightweight wearable, worn like a standard employee ID badge, and it's the same length and width as one. As staff walk the floor doing their normal jobs, built-in cameras passively scan shelves and inventory in the background, so no one has to stop and manually scan anything. A small screen on top shows status at a glance (Recording, Ready, Charging), and the badge doubles as a two-way radio, a clock-in device, and an ID.
SpatialView™ is the central dashboard where all the data gathered by the Smartbadges™ comes to life. It takes the visual data captured on the floor, runs it through computer vision, and turns it into a live 3D map of your space. Instead of guessing what's on the shelves, managers can log in to see real-time inventory levels, spot misplaced items, and track out-of-stock products as they happen. You can zoom out for a high-level view of the entire store or drill down into specific products and timestamps and export the data whenever you need to make quick operational calls.
A Realogram is a live, dynamic map of what your store’s shelves actually look like in real time, bridging the gap between HQ's idealized planogram and reality on the ground. Powered by Augmodo’s spatial AI and wearable tech, it continuously captures current product locations, facings, and stock state to automatically detect misplaced inventory, flag out-of-stocks, and eliminate manual shelf audits. Realograms are currently in development.
We're deepest in the largest physical workforce of retail today and expanding into warehousing, manufacturing, healthcare facilities, automotive, and field operations.
No. The Smartbadge is pointed at shelves. The cameras face out and to the side to look at products, and the system is built to answer questions about items in a physical space, not individuals.
Any human caught in a frame is instantly blurred on-site before the encrypted data ever leaves the store, and over 99% of captured frames are deleted within minutes, retaining only the product data needed to manage inventory. The sole exception occurs if an employee activates the emergency panic button, which temporarily captures unblurred footage strictly to assist with immediate security and incident response.
No. Augmodo doesn't map badges to retail associates. The data is shelf-level: a gap in aisle 7, not a person in aisle 7. To the system, ten people walking the floor once and one person walking it ten times look exactly the same.
The Smartbadge is a passive inventory scanner that tracks shelf stock so employees spend less time counting products and more time helping customers. It can also act as a walkie-talkie and an emergency panic button for staff safety. The badge does not identify or track shoppers and all human images are instantly blurred on the device.
Out of scope, by design and by plan. Before a single badge is worn, work with our customers to scope which zones, roles, and shifts are in and out. Prescription areas, registers, and any zone where personal information is regularly in view would be actively filtered out if a badge was worn in that area.
The upcoming Owl Mini and Owl Pro models (rolling out in 2027) feature a built-in microphone strictly for associate-initiated tools like a walkie-talkie mode and an emergency panic button. The current hardware contains a microphone for those use cases today but nothing records, nothing listens, and there are no background settings for passive monitoring. Audio only activates when an associate physically presses a button: nothing is captured until you start it, and it stops on its own. Live walkie-talkie audio is relayed in real time and never stored, while panic button audio is retained strictly for incident response, all in full compliance with state and local privacy laws.
Manual shelf audits and gap counting can eat up to 14 hours a week per employee. By automating that background work, Augmodo gives those hours back to the team, letting them focus on what actually drives sales: restocking faster, assisting customers, and handling tasks that genuinely require a human touch.
Because the system and the shelf disagree constantly. Inventory records say what should be there. The badge sees what is. In pilot locations, a missing item costs $4.31 per item, per day, per store, and average gap rates run around 6%. Closing that loop in real time cuts gap rates by 30% or more.
A fixed camera sees one angle forever, high capex, and can't follow the work to a warehouse rack or a delivery route. A robot is one expensive machine on one loop: it sees an aisle when it gets there, not when something changes, and when it goes down the store goes dark until a service call.
A person already walks the whole floor, all day. Twenty Smartbadges™ means the shelves get seen continuously, and if one breaks you still have nineteen. We put the sensor where the work already is.
Yes. The Smartbadge complies with FCC Class B standards, has no cellular modem, and runs on Wi-Fi. The lanyard detaches under force so it can't snag or choke.
A Smartbadge runs for a full 8-to-10-hour shift on a single charge. At the end of a shift, workers place their badge in a multi-bay charging dock where it recharges while syncing data or pulling over-the-air software updates.
Setting up a site takes minutes: plug in the charging dock, hand out the badges, and associates walk the floor as usual. There are no apps to install or physical store retrofits required.
Owl Mini and Owl Pro include an optional panic button that an associate can activate themselves if they feel unsafe. It is opt-in per person, not per store, it can only be switched on by the wearer, and it cannot be activated remotely or by a manager. Neither using it nor choosing not to use it is visible to your employer as a performance matter. These devices begin rolling out in 2027.
Ross Finman, founder and CEO. He did his graduate work in robotics at MIT, then co-founded Escher Reality, a Y Combinator-backed AR startup acquired by Niantic Labs in 2018. There he built and led the 3D mapping team powering Pokémon GO, where he led the team in mapping the world. He started Augmodo in 2023, after driving 100 miles looking for baby formula. Every inventory system said the shelves had it. The shelves didn't. That gap exists everywhere work happens off a screen.
We are live with major retailers and CPG brands across several countries, mapping over a billion square feet a year. New partnerships get announced as they go public.
Still have a question?Talk to the team about a pilot in your stores.
Contact us