A physical AI robot is a machine that applies artificial intelligence to work in the real world rather than on a screen — perceiving its surroundings with sensors, making decisions about what to do next, and acting physically. In practice that means navigating a building without a fixed guide path, recognising objects and stock, avoiding people, and completing a task end to end without a person driving it.

Start from the task, not the machine. If the work is counting or auditing stock, look at the LIBRA or AI Vision Stock Take Robot. If it is moving goods, look at the Mini AGV for light loads, the Autonomous Delivery Robot for heavier point-to-point transport, and the AI Robotic Arm for dense storage and retrieval. If it is maintaining or staffing a space, look at the Autonomous Cleaning Robot or the AI Service Robot. The industry table above is a starting shortlist.

Both, but the value is in the second. HKC is an AI robotics systems integrator: supply, integration with your existing systems, site survey and mapping, commissioning, staff training and ongoing support. A robot delivered without integration usually ends up parked.

Retail and supermarket, library and education, logistics and warehousing, manufacturing, healthcare and elderly care, property and facilities management, and hospitality and events. HKC’s wider business also covers smart library solutions, smart healthcare and smart facilities, so robots frequently sit alongside RFID and IoT systems already installed.

It depends on the robot and the site. A single mobile robot on one route can be mapped and running quickly — some are configured in minutes rather than weeks. A fixed installation such as an ASRS, or a fleet integrated into a WMS, is a project with a survey, an integration phase and a commissioning phase. HKC scopes this before quoting rather than after.

HKC’s guidance figure is one to three years, driven by continuous 24/7 operation and by removing repetitive manual work. The real figure depends on your shift pattern, labour cost, and how many hours a week the task currently consumes. Ask for a model against your own numbers before committing — a robot running two shifts pays back in roughly half the time of one running a single shift.

Yes — that is the integration work. Robots connect to warehouse management, ERP and inventory systems so tasks are issued and results returned automatically, and to building services such as lifts, doors and access control where a route crosses a controlled boundary. Existing RFID estates can usually be read by the stock take robots without re-tagging.

Yes. Most deployments begin with a single robot proving one task on your own floor, which is a far better test than a demonstration in a showroom. Contact HKC to arrange a demonstration or a scoped pilot.

Humanoid Robot and Quadruped Robot are in evaluation for release. They are not yet generally available, but HKC can discuss timelines and early deployments — get in touch if one of them fits a requirement you are planning around.

HKC operates from three regional bases — Hong Kong, mainland China and Singapore. The head office is at 14/F., Block B, Vita Tower, 29 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Hong Kong.