A Home Improvement Retailer With a Global Reputation for Innovation That Makes the World a Better Place
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CUSTOMER STORY • ENTERPRISE
A Home Improvement Retailer With a
Global Reputation for Innovation That
Makes the World a Better Place
THE CHALLENGE COMPANY: Lowe’s
Turn a “big box home improvement FOUNDED: 1 946
retailer” into a center of excellence for INDUSTRY: Home improvement
delivering meaningful innovation.
RESULTS, OUTCOMES, AND ACHIEVEMENTS
THE RESULT
Lowe’s has completely embraced
exponential thinking, with results that
Augmented and virtual reality A reputation for practical and
go well beyond innovation in its stores, design tools, Lowe’s Vision radical innovation that attracts
a motivated and loyal employee base, and the Holoroom, which help leading technology startups
and breakthroughs that address global consumers design, envision, and a brand name with which
and shop for their home of multinationals want to partner.
grand challenges. Lowe’s has innovated
the future.
3D printing at the International Space
Station and is pushing the envelope on
robotics and virtual and augmented
reality. Lowe’s is now a sought-after The first autonomous retail An in-store, 3D printer—that
innovation partner of companies like service robot that speaks had its start in the International
Google and Microsoft, as well as start- with customers in multiple Space Station—which can build
languages, shows them where any part Lowe’s customers
up organizations, and Lowe’s has been
to find things in the store, bring in for replacement.
recognized by the White House as a and helps employees with
Champion of Change. inventory tracking.
How do you go from selling sheet rock and hammers to
transforming Lowe’s, a Fortune 50 home improvement
retailer, through exponential thinking? After launching
augmented- and virtual reality-enhanced stores, the first
autonomous retail service robots, and the first store in
space, it may seem obvious to consider Lowe’s at the
forefront of the corporate innovation discussion, but three
years ago, these ideas seemed crazy.
If it feels like the stuff of science fiction, that’s because it is. Lowe’s has
embraced a narrative-driven approach to innovation that is inspiring
“We went from selling sheet rock and its more than 290,000+ employees to think and behave differently. Led
hammers to completely transforming by Kyle Nel, founder of Lowe’s Innovation Labs, this journey started
the entire company. Everyone now in 2013, two years after he joined the company to run international
research. He challenged himself to create new ways of approaching
sees what seemed insane at the time
innovation at Lowe’s.
and how this sets us up for the future
in a dramatic way. And it took only
three years to get there.”
“It wasn’t enough to have great ideas and insights,” noted
— Kyle Nel, Founder and Executive Director of Nel. “I wanted to build stuff, and I was lucky because I was
Lowe’s Innovation Labs
challenged by a leader who said, ‘Tell me what it would
look like if we were really to create meaningful innovation
inside the company.’”
— Kyle Nel
At the beginning, only Nel had the vision for what was possible at
Lowe’s. How could he parlay that vision into a reality to be shared?
The first step was to find a community of like-minded thinkers who
understood the benefits of using emerging technologies for both
business growth and global good. He started by embedding for a year
at a dedicated Lowe’s Innovation Lab at Singularity University (SU). In
fact, Lowe’s became a founding Corporate Member of SU Labs in 2014.
Nel observed, “What I needed was a network, a community, a team.
I found it at SU. I needed help to refine and scale my vision and to be
surrounded by people who could impact me and help me feel like I was
either on the right track or not, and could explain why. Most innovation
programs or spaces are focused on two-by-two charts and a review of
case studies having nothing to do with the unique challenges I faced at
Lowe’s. People attend these ‘innovation’ programs so they can check the
innovation box by completing the program. SU is different; everyone
that comes in the SU doors is self-selecting to be oriented
towards action. People are trying to partner, trying to
co-create, pushing the technology frontier, and trying to
uplift to create a world of abundance.”
Kyle Nel is a behavioral scientist, not a technologist. The
structures he and his team have built to effect change at
Lowe’s rely on principles of behavioral change, including
the power of story to engage and inspire, and of neuro-
science to tap into unstated reactions to new experiences.
Through this combination of narrative and neuroscience,
Lowe’s has developed a reputation for leading corporate
innovation using exponential technologies such as artificial
intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, additive manufactur-
ing, and others. Science Fiction Design Initiative
The first challenge Nel faced was to get everyone at the
This methodology for understanding the future and
company on the same page about the new future for Lowe’s
changing the way people think, feel, and act is no longer
and everyone’s role in helping to bring it about. After many
solely being used inside Lowe’s Innovation Labs. What was
seemingly successful presentations, that ultimately didn’t
initially at the edge of the company is now a core strategic result in action, Nel decided to use a narrative-driven
framework for the entire Lowe’s organization, and many approach to innovation.
organizations around the world are also using this
approach—including Singularity University. Lowe’s provided science fiction writers with current trend
and aggregated customer data and asked them to project
Over the three years since Nel first embedded in his out five to ten years to describe what the retail store and
SU Lab, he and others at Lowe’s have participated in the home of the future would look like. The writers creat-
virtually all of SU’s programs. Kyle’s activities have ed stories of individual characters representing different
included sponsoring an Impact Challenge in San Jose lifestyles and socioeconomic strata who would live in the
that challenged the SU community and customers to world they had imagined, which simplified and made
innovate a solar cooker and water purifier using materials obvious the impact Lowe’s could have.
found at Lowe’s; participating in a Global Impact Challenge
where he met winning startups Fellow Robots and Made In This early effort resulted in a series of comic books that
was presented to the executive team as the strategic plan
Space; keynoting at numerous SU Executive Programs, and
for innovation. Among other scenarios, one comic book
SU’s Exponential Finance and Exponential Manufacturing
focused on a family renovating their home with the use of
Summits; and joining the SU faculty to share his expertise
augmented and virtual reality. Presented just prior to the
on behavioral science as a cornerstone for innovation. launch of the Oculus Rift Kickstarter campaign, these tech-
nologies were far from the minds of Lowe’s executives at
the time. But the story made this future tangible, and their
reaction was to say, “Go build it!” Since then, the Labs team
“What I needed was a network, a community, has worked backwards to bring these and more stories to
a team. I found it at SU. I needed help to refine life in a repeatable, proven process.
and scale my vision and to be surrounded by
SU has since developed the methodology and tools
people who could impact me and help me feel developed by Lowe’s Innovation Labs into Science Fiction
like I was either on the right track or not, and Design Intelligence (SciFi D.I.), a program that helps
could explain why.” companies turn science fiction into science fact. A key
differentiator for SU, SciFi D.I. helps companies project
— Kyle Nel current trends and exponential technologies out 15-20
years, in order to plan prototypes of new solutions. SciFi
D.I. is the ultimate in out-of-the-box thinking found at SU.
assessing measures like attention, cognition and emotion
using a combination of data from EEG headsets and
eye tracking goggles, scientists can see how the brain is
processing information using highly predictive correlative
models. The technology serves as a diagnostic tool to create
experiences that make life simpler and more intuitive.
Based on this research, the Labs team identified the
Lowe’s Vision experience delivered on the Tango platform
as one of the most intuitive visualization experiences
available today.
Holoroom and Beyond: Using Augmented,
Virtual, and Mixed Reality
The first project that the Labs team launched to bring the
original narrative to life was the Holoroom, an augmented
reality application delivered via an iPad that allowed cus-
tomers to enter a blank room and plan the specs and design
of a home remodel. After testing the experience in Lowe’s
Canada stores, the Holoroom evolved into a more immer-
sive virtual reality experience that allowed customers to
design their space using an iPad, then view it in VR using
Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard devices.
LoweBot with Fellow Robots
Using the Holoroom, customers can now see and experi-
ence the layout in exquisite detail; they can walk up to Lowe’s has entered into productive partnerships with SU
cabinets to see the grain of wood on the various products portfolio companies that have taken the retailer in exciting
they want to try out, and they can look under the cabinets new directions. “We were introduced to startup Fellow Ro-
to see their finishes. This experience takes the uncertainty bots at SU,” explained Nel. “Working together, we adapted
out of the vast choice of materials that are available and and extended their robotics to create the first retail robot,
enables people to share their vision. Customers can take which we originally used at one of our Orchard Supply
a printout of the finished project with them, complete Hardware stores in San Jose, California in 2014. The origi-
with pricing for all the elements they explore. nal OSHbot served as a store directory that could recognize
natural language and tell or guide customers where to find
Lowe’s has collaborated with Google to use its Tango what they were looking for in the store. Today, the program
augmented reality platform to launch Lowe’s Vision, a has evolved to include eleven robots in Lowe’s stores, and
suite of applications for in-home visualization and in-store they can speak multiple languages. They’ve graduated to
navigation. Beyond visualization, Lowe’s has also created helping employees complete inventory tracking within the
Holoroom HowTo, a virtual reality clinic for do-it-yourself store, in addition to handling customer service.”
home improvement projects such as re-tiling bathrooms.
The modules make it easier for customers to envision the Nel continued, “Our work in robotics has now also led
final result, increase their retention of the steps involved, us to building carbon fiber rod exoskeletons with Virginia
and help them feel significantly more confident about Tech that our employees are wearing to help with stocking
their ability to do a good job. shelves. When our employees bend over using the exo-
skeleton, it collects potential energy; when they release it
Throughout this journey, Lowe’s has partnered with by standing up, it turns it into kinetic energy for a 2X lift.
Neurons, an applied neuroscience company, to evaluate There is no jerkiness in the movement because it is not
consumers’ unstated reactions to each experience. By based on motors. With both of these programs, we’re
showing how innovation not only helps Lowe’s bottom
line, but also benefits our employees.”
3D Printing of Parts at the International Space Helping to Solve the Safe Drinking Water Station with Made In Space Crisis for 660 Million People in the World Another challenge Lowe’s Innovation Labs tackled was By partnering together, SU and Lowe’s developed a how to advance real-time, local manufacturing. In an early Clean Water Challenge in San Jose, CA in 2015. The pilot conducted in partnership with Authentise, another 12-week challenge invited Bay Area citizen scientists and SU portfolio company, customers could simply bring in do-it-yourselfers to design and build an affordable water an object, such as a broken or out of production part, purification device using common materials found in and Lowe’s could digitally scan it for the customer to create Lowe’s home improvement stores. Judges and represen- a 3D model that could be used for printing, among tatives from impact partners at Socialab and the Interna- other applications. Broken parts could even be pieced back tional Water and Health Alliance selected one winner from together. Customers could also modify and print objects each of two categories, solutions that cost more than $50 designed by Lowe’s, in just about any material they wanted. to produce, or less than $50 to produce. In another partnership, Lowe’s exemplified moonshot thinking. “We learned a lot from partnering in 3D printing with Made In Space, a connection we made at SU,” noted Nel. “We essentially put a Lowe’s store in space at the International Space Station! We figured it would be a good test: if 3D printing could work flawlessly in the extreme conditions in space to produce parts that wear out or break, then it could also work in our stores.” Lowe’s and Made In Space have also brought forward a more holistic view of additive manufacturing that include applications like recycling. The two companies created a prototype demonstration of technology that would allow customers to bring in plastic bags or anything else made of plastic they’re ready to discard, and recycle it into 3D printing filament to be used over and over and over again for products like Lowe’s buckets. “We see things in a constant state of transition, which helps the planet by reducing unnecessary waste,” said Nel. In 2016, the Obama administration recognized Lowe’s and Made In Space as Champions of Change for this effort.
Kyle Nel on the
Critical Need to Be
Exponential and the
Value of Partnering
With SU
“A big part of working with SU and
its global community is being able
to share your own experiences,
as well as understand others’
learnings and frameworks. When
“You don’t see a lot of disruptive innovation from big companies.
I’m at SU, I know I’m with people That’s why I want to share what we have done at Lowe’s. We have
a proven framework now for how to do it and make an impact.
that are part of my tribe, and know We have a purpose here for why we are doing things like additive
that we are learning and growing manufacturing, like putting a store into space and robots into
our stores, as well as working with big companies like Google
and challenging each other for and Microsoft.
better results.”
I feel the challenge to be exponential extends beyond the organi-
zation to me personally. Ultimately organizations are made up of
people, so I asked myself why I couldn’t be one of those people
that is driving change, and helping Lowe’s have a positive impact
in the world?
What’s great about SU is that it exposes you to new things that
cause you to think and react in a different way. SU is a melting pot
of faculty, alumni, and other corporations who are all fighting the
same fights you are—all swirling together and offering you new
opportunities that could dramatically change your business in
the short-, medium-, and long-term.
A big part of working with SU and its global community is being
able to share your own experiences, as well as understand others’
learnings and frameworks. When I’m at SU, I know I’m with people
that are part of my tribe, and know that we are learning and grow-
ing and challenging each other for better results.”
SU and Lowe’s At-a-Glance
SU PROGRAMS EXPONENTIAL TECHNOLOGIES
Lowe’s Lab at SU Labs Virtual Reality
Global Impact Challenge 2014 Augmented Reality
Science Fiction Design Intelligence Robotics
Lowe’s Clean Water Challenge 3D Printing
Exponential Finance Summit 2014 Keynote Speaker Solar
Exponential Manufacturing Summit 2015, 2017 Synthetic Biology
Keynote Speaker Biomimicry
Webinar: Leveraging SciFi and Exponential Technology Behavioral Science
Horizon Mapping to Navigate an Uncertain Future
Neuroscience
Executive Program: attendee and speaker
Quantum Computing
Startup Network (Made In Space, Fellow Robots, Authentise)
Artificial Intelligence
Innovation Lab, Prototyping Sprints, Accelerator, and SU Labs
Global Solutions Program 2012 GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES
Kyle Nel, Member, SU Faculty Water
Space
Environment
About Singularity University
Singularity University (SU) is a global learning and innovation community using exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest
challenges and build an abundant future for all. SU’s collaborative platform empowers individuals and organizations across the globe
to learn, connect, and innovate breakthrough solutions using accelerating technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and digital
biology. A certified benefit corporation headquartered at NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, SU was founded in 2008 by renowned
innovators Ray Kurzweil and Peter H. Diamandis with program funding from leading organizations including Google, Deloitte, and
UNICEF. To learn more, visit SU.org, join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @SingularityU, and download the SingularityU Hub
mobile app.
©2017 Singularity University. NASA Research Park
All rights reserved. Building 20 S. Akron Rd.
Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001
su.org USA
@singularityu +1-650-200-3434
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