China's First Gas Station Convenience Store Embodied AI Robot Project Begins Trial in Shanghai
Recently, Daxiao Robotics and PetroChina Shanghai Sales Company formed a strategic partnership to trial a fully closed-loop embodied AI robot project in gas station convenience stores. The first store, Kunlun Hi-Store, has entered trial operation.
After consumers place orders via Meituan, orders enter the operation system through PetroChina's digital intelligence platform. Based on order and inventory information, Daxiao robots pick, move, and pack goods in aisles 75 cm wide with 2-meter-high shelves, while updating order status. In in-store consumption scenarios, the robots can also assist with product retrieval and fulfillment preparation.
The project covers product storage, sorting, replenishment, shelving, order picking, and packing fulfillment, connecting front warehouses, stores, and orders end to end. Daxiao Robotics centers on its self-developed Kairos world model and wheeled arm lift fulfillment robots, integrating with PetroChina's digital intelligence platform and store operations via the Xiaoman instant retail scenario solution.
The two parties will use PetroChina Shanghai Sales Company's convenience store network to continuously validate robot operational stability under conditions such as multiple SKUs, high-density narrow warehouses, flexible packaging, and order peaks. They will also optimize models and hardware based on real operational data.
As instant retail and local life services converge, gas station stores are shifting from single consumption terminals to integrated operations nodes combining product storage, order fulfillment, and local delivery. Rising SKUs, pronounced online order peaks, nighttime replenishment, and frequent shelf management needs are putting pressure on traditional labor-dependent store-warehouse operations in terms of efficiency and coordination.
The partnership targets this pain point by exploring how robots can take on some repetitive shelf management and fulfillment work. Gas station convenience stores are compact, with high shelves and narrow aisles; 75 cm-wide aisles and 2-meter-high shelves place specific demands on robot mobility and picking and placing capabilities.
Daxiao Robotics is an embodied AI robotics company. Wang Xiaogang, co-founder and executive director of SenseTime, serves as chairman, and AI scientist Academician Tao Dacheng serves as chief scientist. The company has built a technology system centered on environmental data collection and world models. It has launched the Kairos 3.1 world model, the Embodied Super Brain Module A1, and three industry solutions for instant retail, hotel services, and open scenarios.
The two parties said the first store's operational results will be consolidated into a replicable, scalable standardized solution, gradually extending to other convenience stores under PetroChina Shanghai Sales Company. China has about 110,000 gas stations and over 100,000 public charging stations. As this infrastructure transforms into integrated energy service and smart retail nodes, the application space for embodied AI robots in this sector is expected to expand further.
Gas station convenience stores are more standardized than homes and shopping malls. Each site has similar spatial layouts, shelf specifications, and product structures, so once a solution is proven, replication costs are lower than for customized scenarios.