Hong Kong has opened three convenience stores run entirely by humanoid robots, the first deployment of its kind in the city.

Beijing-based Galbot launched the outlets, staffed by its 173-cm-tall G1 humanoid called Xiaogai. The stores at Kai Tak Arena, New Hung Hom Harbourfront and Wan Chai Promenade run 24 hours a day.

Xiaogai speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and English. It stocks shelves, retrieves products for customers and processes checkouts, reading shopper intent through visual and audio perception rather than waiting for button presses.

Each store is a compact capsule of about nine square metres, selling snacks, drinks, lifestyle merchandise and over-the-counter medicines. Curious shoppers have interacted with the robot, chatting with it in multiple languages and watching it dance.

This is Galbot’s first expansion outside mainland China, where it already operates about 200 retail stores across nearly 50 cities. The Hong Kong Investment Corporation backs the venture, signalling the city government’s strategic interest in robot retail.

Galbot plans to scale the concept to 100 capsule stores across ten cities. Whether a single humanoid can handle the full range of retail situations, from stock replenishment to payment failures, remains an open question the rollout will test.