Japan has been facing acute labour shortage with almost a third of its population aged 65 and above. With this persistent headache in Tokyo’s heart amid a global pandemic, the country’s technology start ups are using artificial intelligence as their armour, reported CNN.

Telexistence, a tech start up based in Tokyo, designed a seven-feet tall robot, when extended to its full height, to make industrial and domestic life easier for the Japanese people. The robot moves around on a wheeled platform and is kitted out with cameras, microphones and sensors. Using the three “fingers” on each of its two hands, it can stock shelves with products such as bottled drinks, cans and rice bowls.

Big Japanese convenience store franchises, including FamilyMart and Lawson, have started deploying these robots at their stores. Though Lawson deployed its first robot at a store in Tokyo recently, FamilyMart used the same robots last month. FamilyMart said the plan is to have these robots in 20 stores by 2022.

“The robot can pick and place objects of several different shapes and sizes in different locations,” said Matt Komatsu, head of business development and operations at Telexistence while talking to CNN.

“This sets it apart from other robots used in stores, such as those used by Walmart to scan shelf inventory, or the ones used in warehouses to stack boxes. Warehouse robots pick up the same thing from the same place and place it on the same platform — their movement is very limited compared to ours,” he added.

According to the report, Telexistence will not sell robots and VR systems directly to stores, but will provide them for a fee. It would not disclose the price but said it would be cost-competitive with human labor.