Beijing's robot shopping fest brings cutting-edge technology to life
BEIJING - As the doors swing open at Beijing's new robot-themed restaurant, diners are greeted by humanoid waiters who nod and speak in lifelike gestures, while robotic servers glide between tables delivering dishes and a robot band plays drums and guitars, turning a meal into a futuristic spectacle.
"The restaurant gives me a fresh sense of technology. It's quite an amazing attempt," said Ding Wenjun, a tourist from East China's Jiangxi province.
"It is not only an immersive dining place integrating cuisine, culture and technology, but also provides a scenario for robot application and data collection," said Sun Ling, head of the Robot Restaurant.
The tech-savvy restaurant is one of the participants of the E-Town Robot Consumption Festival, running from Aug 2 to 17, organized by the administrative committee of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town.
The festival also marked the debut of the Robot Mall, a 4,000-square-meter "robot 4S" store, while shopping malls and e-commerce platform JD.com host sales campaigns. Enterprises can enjoy subsidies of up to 250,000 yuan ($35,039) on robot purchases.
The Robot Mall features more than 50 products across medical, industrial and companion robotics. For instance, the Galbot G1, a wheeled-chassis humanoid robot, can retrieve medications from shelves and deliver them directly to patients.
"It can automatically dispense and distribute medications, alleviating the heavy workload of nurses and reducing risks of human error," said Meng Yanpei, a manager at the mall. "In pharmacies, it serves emergency patients, especially at night, while also lowering operating costs by taking over repetitive tasks."
Over 10 pharmacies in Beijing now use Galbot G1, operating 24 hours a day. The robot is priced at 680,000 yuan at the 4S store during the festival, at a discount of 50,000 yuan.
As of Tuesday, more than 19,000 robots and related products have been sold during the festival, generating total sales of over 200 million yuan. Meanwhile, the distribution of consumption vouchers has boosted sales by over 60 million yuan, according to the administrative committee of Beijing E-Town.
Targeting online consumers, JD.com has showcased over 680 robot products, including quadruped, biped, exoskeleton, and educational and companion robots, offering a maximum subsidy of 600 yuan for a single product.
"In the past, these robots were priced in the millions of yuan, but now they are becoming more affordable," said Xu Lei, head of the Intelligent Robot Business Department under the 3C Digital Business Group of JD.com. "We hope to leverage the advantages of online sales, brand support and supply chains to make robots accessible to more consumers."
Zhang Hao, chief scientist of ALVA (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., said that robots are still in their infancy and are often used mainly for display. "Even though they may stagger while walking, they captivate us because we can sense their intelligence gradually maturing."
"Only when robots help customers make money will they buy and keep buying such machines," said Zhang, adding that such machines must be practical, affordable, versatile and of effective use for consumers.
Zhang's perspective echoes that of Massimiliano Zecca, a professor of healthcare technology at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, who said, "Humanoid robots now require an engineering team to look after them. They need to bring real value to form a natural market."
Despite the limitations of robots, Zecca was clearly impressed by a humanoid coffee barista crafting intricate latte art at the 2025 World Robot Conference, which concluded on Tuesday.
"I would pay for a cup of coffee with artistic flavor. The evolution of humanoid robots will surely provide more choices to meet personal preferences," Zecca said.
