Express LaneProfile of Optimal Robotics Corp. which created the U-scan Express, an automated self-checkout system

You've selected the perfect Cabernet for your date, who willbe at your apartment in 15 minutes-and you'd sure like to buyit, if it weren't for the cashier who's chatting with thewoman who just spent five minutes locating her ATM card and nowcan't swipe it correctly. Enter U-Scan Express, an automatedself-checkout system that allows shoppers to scan, purchase and baggoods, minus the cashier. Buy alcohol, cigarettes or otherrestricted items, and U-Scan, masterminded by Optimal RoboticsCorp. in Montreal, will prompt a clerk to check ID. Finally,we're entering Jetsons territory.

Now before you jump to "This will steal people'sjobs!" conclusions, let CEO Neil Wechsler, 34, explain."There's 4 percent unemployment, and retailers justcan't find labor," he says. "And when you askconsumers what the worst part of their experience in a retailestablishment is, they say 'getting out of there.' "As far as reaction from unions, Wechsler's heard nary apeep.