Imagine going to a local convenience store controlled by an employee hundreds of kilometers away with the help of virtual reality –VR– technologies. They are helping you buy things. It sounds too much like science fiction, but it’s not. The unmanned workplaces that Telexistence Inc. and Family Mart convenience stores want to put into service in 2022 are planned to be operated exactly this way. It is a sort of robot-avatar and unmanned store.

According to a report by SoraNews24 , Family Mart plans to investigate ways to increase efficiency and reduce operating costs by using Telexistence technology to stock store shelves with products.

Test installations are scheduled to begin this summer at Family Mart stores in Tokyo, with the aim of having robots stocking shelves in 20 branches by 2022, and expanding further if the trials yield positive results.