Wal-Mart is replacing employees with drones

Walmart's latest employees will look a lot like drones.

That's because they are, as the company's Vice President of Last Mile and Emerging Sciences revealed, just before its annual shareholders meeting.

The drones will displace inventory quality assurance workers, in an effort to slash the time for inventory checks at Walmart's massive distribution centers from one month to one day.

As for the inventory checkers replaced by the drones, Walmart says they'll be given new opportunities with the company.

Walmart is working with the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA to develop the drone technology, which can take as many as 30 images a second from a mounted camera.

The camera then scans for tracking number matches, while an employee monitors its progress.

Walmart says the technology will be implemented in all of its distribution centers, but it's still six to nine months away, and there isn't a specific launch plan.

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