7-Eleven Plans In-Store Robots by 2029

7-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd. (Tokyo) is teaming with Telexistence Inc. to jointly develop and introduce humanoid robots in 7 Eleven stores by 2029. Dubbed “Astra,” the humanoid robot will be powered by generative AI and equipped with the Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model.

By implementing Astra in real store environments, Tokyo-based Telexistence and the c-store giant aim to provide solutions to rising labor costs and workforce shortages, while redefining the customer experience. Astra, the partners said in a news release, will take on routine in-store operations, allowing employees to focus on services that only humans can deliver.

“As labor shortages and operational challenges intensify across the retail sector, 7-Eleven has continued to invest in automation and labor-saving technologies,” the companies said in the release. “This partnership builds upon those efforts, aiming not only to improve efficiency but also to transform the very role of employees in convenience stores.”

The partners will focus on three main areas:

• Identifying retail operations suitable for automation and verifying their effectiveness.
• Developing humanoid hardware tailored to real-world store challenges.
• Collecting and building large-scale robot operation datasets to advance VLA training and deployment.

TX already operates a large-scale data collection platform through its beverage restocking robot, “Ghost.” By integrating TX’s data collection platform with 7-Eleven’s network of more than 20,000 stores, the partnership will create unparalleled training resources for VLA models.

“This will enable end-to-end integration of perception, planning and control—bringing humanoid robots into practical use faster and at greater scale than any competitor,” the partners’ release said.