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BriefROBOTICS

Humanoid Retail Assistant Robot ShopBot Deployed at Scale in Tokyo's Ginza: AI Transformation of Physical Retail

SoftBank Robotics' humanoid retail assistant ShopBot has been deployed in 36 stores across Tokyo's Ginza commercial district, offering product recommendations and navigation in Japanese, English, and Chinese with 82% customer satisfaction.

SoftBank Robotics deployed its humanoid retail assistant ShopBot at scale across Tokyo's Ginza commercial district in June 2028. The first 36 stores — including Mitsukoshi, Uniqlo flagship, and MUJI — now use ShopBot for customer assistance.

ShopBot stands 1.55m tall with a humanoid form but minimalist facial design to avoid the uncanny valley. Its LLM-powered dialogue system supports Japanese, English, and Chinese, understanding customer needs, recommending products, and guiding customers to specific areas.

Mitsukoshi Ginza's store manager said: "ShopBot's most surprising ability is understanding vague requests. When a customer says 'I want a birthday gift for my mom, budget 20,000 yen,' ShopBot gives reasonable suggestions."

In the first month's satisfaction survey, 82% rated ShopBot satisfactory or very satisfactory. Main complaints centered on "lacking human warmth" and "unable to handle complex returns." SoftBank Robotics plans to expand ShopBot to 150 additional stores by end of 2028.