Ghosts Commandeer Floor Scrubber at Grand Junction Box Store

Spirits from the Astral Plane have taken up gigs with the cleaning crew at the North Avenue Walmart in Grand Junction. Here's video proof.

These have been spotted at Walmarts all over the country. One of three things is happening:

• Apparitions have landed jobs operating these floor scrubbers
• Phantoms have taken "possession" of the machines and inhabit the scrubbers
• These are automated cleaning machines

Take your pick. Personally, I like the idea of spirits actually inhabiting the machines. In any case, it's a bit shocking to see a floor scrubber running amok at your friendly neighborhood Wally World.

Take a look at the video at the top. Grand Junction drivers could learn a thing or two from these machines (or spirits, depending on which theory you subscribe to). When the machine sees a pedestrian coming, it actually stops. That's more than I can say about drivers coming down 5th Street in Grand Junction.

Are these exclusive to Grand Junction? Not hardly. Walmart unleashed 360 of these "autonomous" scrubbers at stores across the country back in January 2019.

What exactly are these machines? According to cnbc.com, "Brain Corp. makes the robot floor scrubbers, called the Auto-C, powered by the company’s BrainOS technology platform, which includes autonomous navigation that uses multiple sensors to scan the robots’ surroundings for obstacles, like people. (That means the autonomous robots could even be used when customers are in the store.)"

Walmart employees will be able to map out cleaning routes for the AI-supported robot scrubbers and then send them off on unmanned cleaning missions 'with the press of a single button.' - Walmart press release

Well, there goes my ghost theory. What do you suppose one of these little beauties costs? After a little research, it was learned these begin in the upper $8,000 range.

You'll find several videos on this topic on YouTube. Some videos are accompanied by commentary from the photographers. There are those who feel these machines are displacing employees.

The next time you visit a Grand Junction Wally World, keep your eyes open for these things. You can't help but follow it around for a bit. It's kind of like bubble wrap.... you're defenseless against it.