Huawei started the year with the opening of its first unstaffed smart store. The robot operated store opened on January 1 in Wuhan, China.

The store has a cylindrical shape and the front side of this store is made of bullet-proof transparent glass. The store is staffed by one large and two small robotics arms that are able to rotate 360 degrees.

The store will be open 24 hours a day and shoppers can purchase their products via a large touchscreen display in the customer area. After a customer finalises an order, the large robot grabs the goods and puts them in the delivery area, where the small robot pushes it to the buyer.

Due to the limited capabilities of the robot arms, there are no heavy products such as Huawei Vision TVs; consumers can only purchase smartphones and accessories.

If the store goes down well with shoppers in Wuhan, the tech giant plans to open similar shops across China and maybe internationally.