Hong Kong's first robot-operated convenience stores drew curious shoppers on Saturday, as locals interacted with a humanoid shopkeeper, chatted with it in multiple languages and watched it dance.

Beijing-based embodied-intelligence robotics company Galbot launched three outlets in the city, operated by its G1 robot, a 173-cm-tall humanoid designed for retail tasks.

The stores, which run 24 hours a day, offer snacks and drinks.

The robot, known as Xiaogai, speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and English. Galbot already operates about 200 retail stores across nearly 50 cities on the mainland. The SAR outlets mark its first expansion outside the mainland.

The experience intrigued shoppers, including local resident Dylan Tyack, who found it entertaining.

“I've been to the mainland quite a bit and had the robot coffee makers and stuff. That's pretty cool. So I think this is a really unique concept, a good idea for Hong Kong, you know? Quite a fun experience," Tyack said.

"He sang for us, yeah, its good fun entertaining kind of thing with my daughter, so yeah, pretty fun. Quite surprising how far technology's come. And what we can be in five years time, it'll be interesting. So yeah, it's a cool, cool, cool experience.”

However, another resident, Yvonne Lau, noted the technology still needs refinement.

"Actually, in my mind it might be able to sing a lot of songs, but it turned out there are copyright issues, so it can't sing them," she said.

"Also, I think it is a bit dumb, but it's really a good start. If there are some sudden or unexpected situations, I feel the robot would probably not know how to handle them.” (Reuters)




Edited by Azam Khan