Beijing to open world's first 4S store for embodied AI robots in August

(ECNS) -- Beijing will open the world’s first 4S store for embodied AI robots this August, offering robot sales, spare parts, and after-sales service, the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA) announced Wednesday.

Located in the BDA’s robotics industrial park, the store will feature nearly 30 robot brands, including Tiangong Ultra, the humanoid robot that won the world’s first half-marathon for robots held in Beijing in April.

The 4S model—short for Sale, Spare parts, Service, and Survey—is adapted from the automotive industry to support the full lifecycle of robotic products. “As the industry develops, it’s crucial to build an integrated one-stop platform to meet service demands,” said Liang Liang, deputy director of the BDA Administrative Committee.

The store will offer diagnostics, modular-level repairs, and performance verification through a professional maintenance team. Services will include online repair requests, phone consultations, and on-site support.

Wang Yifan, deputy general manager of E-Town Robotics, the developer behind the project, said the store will also include immersive displays to help consumers better understand product capabilities—such as soccer matches, singing, and dancing. “Many consumers only know robots through online platforms,” Wang said. “This space lets them experience performance firsthand.”

Guangzhou-based Gaoqing Electromechanical Technology Co., which previously participated in the humanoid robot half-marathon, said the store’s shared platform reduces overhead. “We considered renting a display booth at a mall for about 40,000 yuan a month,” said business director Ren Haidong. “Now we can save that cost.”

Wang noted that some robots cost as much as automobiles, making financing essential for some buyers. The store is working with banks and insurers to provide loans and insurance as part of a one-stop purchasing experience.

More than 100 companies in the robotics supply chain have expressed interest in joining the platform. The BDA, already home to over 300 robotics and smart manufacturing firms with a combined industrial output exceeding 10 billion yuan, expects to enable application of more than 10,000 embodied AI robots—worth nearly 5 billion yuan—within two years, including over 1,000 humanoid units.

The robot 4S store will collaborate with leading supply chain enterprises to establish a nationwide rapid-response system, covering maintenance, upgrades, and assembly. Simultaneously, it would regularly provide procurement feedback, report operational stability, failure rates, and repair cycles, thereby helping robotics companies optimize product performance.

A pilot version of the store will debut during the World Robot Conference in August, with a full upgrade scheduled for November. Wang said the 4S model will expand to other areas, starting with Beijing, then the Jing-Jin-Ji region, and eventually the Yangtze and Pearl River Deltas.