CHINA - Life-like Robot Store Opens

A new robot shop has opened in Beijing selling everything from mechanical butlers to human-like replicas of Albert Einstein.

More than 100 types of products will be on sale at Robot Mall, which launched in the Chinese capital. The store is one of the first in the country to sell humanoid and consumer-oriented robots.

China has invested heavily in the robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) as it looks to overcome challenges such as slowing economic growth and an ageing population.

“If robots are to enter thousands of households, relying solely on robotics companies is not enough,” Wang Yifan, a store director, told Reuters.

The robots on sale range in price from 2,000 yuan ($278, £207) to several million yuan.

The opening of Robot Mall coincides with the start of the five-day World Robot Conference in Beijing.

Chinese state media said this year’s event will see more than 1,500 exhibits from over 200 local and overseas robotic companies.

-www.bbc.com, 8 August 2025

Commentary: With the advances of AI and the prominence of consumerism in today’s society, one can now obtain a robot at a shopping mall for as little as $278. As the store’s director Wang Yifan states, robots are set to “enter thousands of households” in China. The government there is investing heavily in this area to address “slowing economic growth and an ageing population.” The economy is boosted by the purchase of these robots, which can also serve as companions to the elderly. And, as if there aren’t enough conveniences already at our disposal, one can now obtain a “mechanical butler.”

This reveals the steady progression of man’s reliance on AI to meet one’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs rather than God. While one may derive temporary pleasure from the use of these robots, the true source of eternal joy is Jesus: “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).