Body Scanners, AI Mirrors and Smart Carts: Go Inside the Latest in Shopping Tech [Video]

Armed with robots, the latest drive-thru displays and body scanners the size of lux showers, thousands of companies have decamped to Manhattan to plug their latest gadgets at a convention expected to draw in 40,000 attendees.

Many offerings are designed to be invisible to consumers, operating in the background. Some, though, are meant to be part of your shopping experience, like the aforementioned scanners, signs and robots that cook french fries and help assemble pizzas.

With more than 8,000 booths across three floors of the Javits Center, this year’s “Big Show” was expected to draw visitors from big brands, according to its organizer, the National Retail Federation. The event also attracted manufacturers, payment processors and AI developers whose software focuses on nearly every aspect of retail—from writing product descriptions to chatting up customers making returns.

Here are some of the things that caught our eye, ranging from personalized mobile drive-thru …