I went to Figtree Kmart at midnight and it was every bit the head trip I expected

My time came on a recent rainy night, when I realised I'd forgotten to get the neighbours' kid a birthday present, and that the window for sorting the situation before I saw said kid the next morning was about seven hours.

And that's how I found myself in Figtree, bleary-eyed under bright lighting, absent-mindedly petting the soft polyester fur of a herd of very reasonably priced rocking dinosaurs as Thursday ticked over into Friday.

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There is something comforting and discombobulating and a bit thrilling about being in a place that is open when it shouldn't be, like arriving at the school disco. No need to switch off the lights before bed, these places seem to reassure us, you're not the last one up. True darkness need never descend. This isn't real time anyway, it's sleeping time, so do with it what you will. Is this even real money? The normal rules don't apply. Buy the rocking dino.

The toy section reveals a wall full of drones costing as little as $25. Or with a camera for $48 - hey, wow - kids can get drone-mounted cameras for pocket money now! What a time to be alive! I make a mental note to remember to fully close the bathroom window at shower time.

I am on the cusp of the kids' clothing section when I encounter the robot - this one not a toy, but a valued member of staff.

Tory, Kmart's stock-counting robot, stands tall enough to look me in the eye, and is hard at work.

She moves slowly, quietly and smoothly on wheels concealed under a pink skirt, bearing a sign that says, "Hi! I'm Tory! Don't mind me, I'm just counting stock on our shelves. No need to move out of my way. I'll go around you!".

Rolled out across large-format Kmart stores in 2022, Tory (short for inventory) is a self-navigating robot by Germany's MetraLabs, that works by scanning the unique Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip on the tag of each piece of Kmart apparel.

The machines have been credited with a "quantum improvement" in inventory accuracy, so that when an indecisive shopper picks up a pair of men's pyjamas then ditches them in the babywear section, the PJs can be found when a customer calls up wanting to buy the last pair.

The technology means stores that once did a yearly stocktake can now do them daily.

There is now a Tory at work in every Australian and New Zealand Kmart.

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But daytime visitors to the stores won't have seen the machines, which clock on at night and by morning have returned to a dock somewhere back of house.

The Tory at Shellharbour Kmart, not a 24/7 operation, starts work when the doors close at 10pm, and is rarely still on the shop floor when the first customers start arriving next morning.

At Figtree store, I leave Tory to it and remember the mission: a present for my clever, creative little neighbour.

It comes down to a choice between a beautiful kaleidoscope of clay colours, with a pack of carving tools thrown in, or a drone shaped like a butterfly.

The clay is soft and tactile, a medium as old as art itself. The slick black and neon drone is the future, arrived.

Blame it on Black Mirror; I gift the clay. But I take the drone home too, stashing it in the cupboard for the next birthday emergency.

No need for another midnight encounter with Tory, not for a while at least.

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