Hong Kong will soon open its first convenience store operated by a humanoid robot, the city’s finance chief said. It is part of a push to add artificial intelligence (AI) to daily life.
The 24-hour convenience store will be located on the waterfront in Hung Hom. It will feature a humanoid robot who will serve locals and visitors in different languages.
The store was developed by a mainland Chinese company dedicated to “embodied AI”.
The store was the company’s first outside the mainland. Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po confirmed this on his weekly blog.
Embodied AI refers to the addition of AI in physical systems. This includes robots and self-driving cars.
These systems use sensors to understand the environment, make decisions in real time and physically interact with the world.
The hi-tech store showed the increased addition of AI into daily life, Chan said. In his blog, the finance chief also said that the government was working to improve the public’s understanding of AI.
