Galbot’s outlets in Hung Hom, Kai Tak and Wan Chai will be its first outside mainland China, with plans for 10 more outlets
2-MIN READ2-MINEric JiangPublished: 8:43am, 31 Aug 2026Hong Kong’s first convenience stores operated by humanoid robots will open on Tuesday, with the Beijing-based company behind it planning to establish about 10 more outlets locally as it makes the city its first stop in “going overseas”.
Following an opening ceremony on Monday, the first “Galbot stores” will open in Hung Hom, Kai Tak and Wan Chai the next day, marking the company’s first outlets outside mainland China.
The embodied-intelligence robotics company launched its first store on the mainland last August and has since expanded to about 200 outlets across 50 cities nationwide.
“This is a genuinely important step for us in going overseas as Hong Kong is an important window and platform for [mainland] China facing the international market,” said Zhao Yuli, chief strategy officer of Galbot, noting that the business had operated a Hong Kong office since 2024.
She said the company planned to open about 10 more Galbot stores in the city over the coming years, in high-footfall districts.
According to Zhao, each Galbot store is run by wheeled humanoid robots powered by the company’s embodied foundation model, AstraBrain. The robots can take orders, deliver goods and prepare drinks using a linked coffee machine, though a human attendant is still needed for certain store operations, including some replenishment tasks, with full automation expected eventually.
Zhao said Galbot’s robots won gold, silver and bronze medals in the retail category at the World Humanoid Robot Games. The competition required robots to restock shelves, manage inventory, and autonomously identify misplaced items and correct their positioning.
