Seven-Eleven Will Rollout Astra Humanoids In Convenience Stores

Seven-Eleven Japan and Telexistence Inc. have announced a partnership to develop Astra, a humanoid robot powered by generative AI and a Vision-Language-Action (VLA) foundation model, with rollout in convenience stores targeted for 2029. The initiative addresses rising labor shortages and costs by automating routine in-store tasks, freeing employees to focus on customer service and value-added roles. The collaboration will test the suitability of automation, design humanoid hardware for real-world retail, and build large-scale datasets for robot operation to advance VLA training. Leveraging Telexistence’s Ghost robot platform and Seven-Eleven’s 20,000+ stores, the partnership creates unmatched training resources for practical AI robotics. Supported by the AI Robot Association, which includes leading universities and Toyota, this project aims to pioneer the deployment of large-scale humanoid robots in retail.

Telexistence , Press Release – Seven-Eleven Japan and Telexistence Partner to Pioneer Humanoid Robots with Generative AI – 30th September 2025