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XiangLu Robotics Unveils Cooking AI 'Brain' and Robot Chefs at Beijing Conference

Asia Pacific

XiangLu Robotics Unveils Cooking AI 'Brain' and Robot Chefs at Beijing Conference
Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific

XiangLu Robotics Unveils Cooking AI 'Brain' and Robot Chefs at Beijing Conference

2026-08-31 16:15 Last Updated At:16:22

The company says CookingMuse is the world's first multimodal AI foundation model trained on real kitchen data. Its cooking robots already operate in 13,000 stores across nearly 350 cities.

BEIJING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 31 August 2026 – XiangLu Robotics on Sunday unveiled three major new cooking products at the 2026 World Robot Conference, headlined by what it said is the world's first multimodal AI foundation model trained on data gathered from real kitchens.

XiangLu Robotics Unveils Cooking AI 'Brain' and Robot Chefs at Beijing Conference

XiangLu Robotics Unveils Cooking AI 'Brain' and Robot Chefs at Beijing Conference

The Aug. 23 launch pairs the model — called CookingMuse, or Chuqi — with the 3K Vision Cooking Robot and an embodied cooking robot named RoboCook, the company said. Spanning the understanding of cooking, sensory judgment and embodied execution, the three products lay out a complete technological path for AI to enter real kitchens and solve real problems, pushing robots from "demonstrating capabilities" toward "creating real value" — or, as the company put it, moving AI from "following recipes" to "understanding cooking." Each represents Xianglu's latest breakthrough in one of three fields: cooking AI, intelligent robots and embodied intelligence.

The machines already operate at scale. Xianglu said its AI cooking robots cover nearly 350 cities in China and more than 20 countries and regions overseas, deployed with 3,000 brands, covering 13,000 stores, with nearly 600 million customer visits served to date. Its in-house AI recipe-generation system has accumulated nearly one million digital recipes of Chinese cuisine — and entering real kitchens at scale, the company said, has gradually formed its continuously evolving "robot — data — model — robot" loop.

A foundation model for the kitchen

Yang Jiancheng, Xianglu's founder and chairman, described the multimodal cooking AI foundation as the underlying artificial intelligence system the company built for future kitchens — and the first multimodal cooking AI foundation model anywhere trained on real kitchen data, taking AI from "recognizing cooking" to "understanding cooking."

By fusing vision, cooking-process data and intelligent decision-making, the system means AI cooking robots no longer merely complete actions under preset programs but begin to understand what is happening to a dish and decide what to do next, Yang said. Xianglu called that a capability leap from "automation" to "intelligence."

Older machines relied on fixed timing, fixed heat levels, fixed ingredient loading and fixed procedures. But a real kitchen is no standard laboratory: the freshness, moisture content, size and temperature of ingredients — and the state inside the wok — are in constant flux. The truly scarce ability of great chefs, the company argued, is not repeating motions but continuously observing, judging and adjusting as conditions change.

The real problem cooking intelligence must solve, Xianglu said, is not "how to make movements more precise" but whether, when reality changes, the machine still knows what it should be doing now.

On that premise, CookingMuse connects multimodal perception, cooking understanding and dynamic decision-making, so robots look beyond "what dish is this" to understand "what state is this dish in, why did that state appear, and what should happen next." Judgments once reserved to chef experience — whether sugar has caramelized properly, whether sauce has reduced to the target, whether meat has reached the right doneness — are being converted into capabilities AI can learn, understand and execute, the company said.

More importantly, Xianglu is turning real kitchens themselves into the arena of AI's continuous learning: robots enter working kitchens and generate real cooking data; the data trains the model; the model's capabilities return to the robots, which enter still more real kitchens for continuous iteration. The resulting "robot — data — model — robot" loop means Xianglu's edge no longer comes from any single piece of hardware alone, but from a cooking-intelligence system capable of continuously evolving in the real world.

"Cooking has no standard answer"

"Cooking has no standard answer — children need nutrition, the elderly need less salt, and people away from home miss the taste of their mother's cooking," Yang said. "So we let AI walk into real kitchens: to see every second of change in the ingredients, to see master chefs' decades of experience, and ultimately to see each person's needs."

The company hopes, he said, to use technology to break through the limits of space, time, social class and manpower — so that good food is no longer bound by geography, the flavors of generations past can be passed down digitally, and master-level dishes can reach ordinary households. "We hope that one day, no matter where a person is, how old they are, or where they come from, they can more easily get a truly suitable good meal," Yang said. "Because what robots truly need to see has never been just a dish, but every person."

The 3K: a cooking robot with eyes

The 3K Vision Cooking Robot, the second of the three products Xianglu globally debuted during the WRC, is the world's first intelligent AI cooking robot to fuse AI vision with what Xianglu calls its "cooking brain" — in the company's words, an AI chef that truly understands cooking. It is also the first product equipped with Xianglu's multimodal cooking AI foundation.

Beyond its intelligent brain, the 3K carries three 40-megapixel global-shutter industrial cameras that capture the wok at 30 frames per second, feeding a large AI model trained on data from millions of dishes, which judges the state of ingredients in real time. With the world-first foundation model and the newly added vision hardware, the company said, an AI cooking robot can for the first time both "see" the changes inside the wok and make autonomous decisions on that basis.

The result, Xianglu said: a sharply lower cooking "failure rate" on complex dishes and lower ingredient costs for restaurant operators. The 3K moves dish quality control from after-the-fact inspection to in-process adjustment, substantially improving back-of-house efficiency and cost control at branded restaurant locations through a higher degree of unmanned operation — which the company called the biggest change the product brings to the industry.

Legacy AI cooking robots ran on preset programs; whenever ingredient size, moisture content or thawing state deviated from the defaults, dish quality fluctuated, and problems often surfaced only once the dish left the wok. The 3K dynamically adjusts heating power, stir-fry duration, stirring speed and seasoning quantities at the millisecond level, intervening in real time during the cook — so that even inconsistent ingredients or a misplaced tray still produce a good dish. Its AI-supervision capability monitors store-level operational anomalies in real time, from ingredient cutting specifications, thawing state and actual quantities loaded, to tray position, calibration and dispensing anomalies, automatically identifying issues, generating reports and pushing them to operations to help stores standardize operations.

In Xianglu's product evolution, the 3K can smoothly complete a three-step leap: getting eyes, becoming an AI supervisor, and becoming an AI chef.

The company put those capabilities on public display at the WRC, where — on camera — the 3K cleared two live challenges that, it said, traditional AI cooking robots cannot overcome. In the first, "The Disappearing Cup of Water," two 3K machines stir-fried the same mapo tofu side by side; 100 grams of water not in the recipe was poured in mid-cook, and the system, detecting the change in the wok, re-assessed the sauce-reduction state and held until the wok's state returned to target before moving to the next step. In the second, "The Wok Hei Is Back," two machines cooked chili-pepper stir-fried pork side by side — one using meat that had not fully thawed, the other normal ingredients; the 3K recalculated its cooking plan in real time and closed the gap in heat control.

Where people are, hot meals follow

While the foundation model and the 3K are "invisible" technologies hidden in restaurant back-of-houses or built into the products themselves, the third launch of this event from XiangLu Robotics — RoboCook — is a new category consumers can see and touch.

Built around embodied intelligent robots, it pairs a humanoid robot with dedicated cooking robots to link the entire chain from picking and placing ingredients to cooking to serving, letting AI not only understand cooking but enter the real world and deliver a complete meal. The product is a mobile, miniature unmanned back-of-house system: an end-to-end unmanned closed loop running from chilled storage of prepped vegetables through fresh cooking, bowl dispensing and serving, oil-fume treatment and equipment self-cleaning. It supports high-heat stir-fried Chinese dishes, Western pasta and fried rice, among other categories — effectively a small mobile unmanned restaurant that needs no chef, no exhaust ductwork installation and no fixed storefront.

For the first time, RoboCook takes AI from a single piece of back-of-house equipment to the entire arc of commercial operation, with core features including genuinely unmanned running, dual-wok parallel cooking, end-to-end digitization and mobile deployment. For restaurant operators, end-to-end digital management no longer depends on store managers' rounds or human experience.

More importantly, the company said, dual-wok parallel cooking plus mobile deployment can absorb demand surges in peak dining hours while making real the idea that "wherever people queue for food, a RoboCook can be placed": ready to use the moment it is towed into position at high-traffic events such as exhibitions, music festivals and sports events; freshly cooked hot meals inside tech parks, office-building clusters and university towns, with employees never needing to leave the premises; ready to sell wherever it stops at scenic spots, campsites and night markets. Compared with manned food trucks and automated food vending machines, Xianglu argued, RoboCook delivers not one AI cooking robot but a complete, mobile back-of-house capability that can rapidly replicate diverse, complex menus.

The launch extends a push that began earlier this month: in early August, Xianglu's fully automated AI beverage workstation, Xianka Fangzhou, made its appearance inside JD.com's Seven Fresh Kitchen (Qixian Xiaochu) "24-hour end-to-end robot store," bringing end-to-end intelligent production into beverage preparation for the first time. RoboCook now carries the same end-to-end unmanned capability from beverages to fresh stir-frying, and from fixed stores to more places, opening what the company calls a new product category — the mobile unmanned foodservice workstation.

From Chinese kitchens to global kitchens, from understanding a dish to seeing every person

What Xianglu presented at this year's WRC was not just three new products but a cooking-intelligence system that keeps evolving from understanding to sensing to execution, the company said.

"Robots enter real kitchens and produce data; real data enters the model, and the model begins to understand cooking; new capabilities return to the robots; smarter robots enter more kitchens and produce more, and more valuable, data," Yang said.

On top of that continuously evolving cooking intelligence, Xianglu's products and use cases keep growing — from commercial AI cooking robots to the 3K and RoboCook, and on to future home AI cooking robots. Product forms and use cases will change, the company said, but the underlying cooking intelligence will not: understanding each brand's dish-quality standards in restaurants, and different people's taste, nutrition and dietary needs at home.

At the same time, Xianglu is taking the capability into real kitchens in more countries and regions, where different ingredients, climates, cooking methods and eating habits will become new variables for the AI's continuous learning. From understanding Chinese kitchens to understanding kitchens around the world, the company said it ultimately hopes to build a cooking intelligence that can continuously learn and understand global cuisine.

But however many dishes robots come to understand or kitchens they enter, technology ultimately still faces real, individual people.

At the launch, Xianglu screened its brand vision film "Seeing": a middle-aged father who spent years away from home studying and building businesses, years after his mother's death, uses AI digital technology to recreate, before his own son, the braised pork belly the boy's grandmother once made. What the machine reconstructed was not just a dish, but a family memory that spans time.

Hashtag: #XiangLuRobotics

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

** This press release is distributed by Media OutReach Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **

Proposed an interim dividend of HK11.0 cents per share

Highlights:

  • Revenue increased to approximately HK$1,450.9 million.
  • Gross profit increased to approximately HK$518.8 million.
  • Profit attributable to owners of the Company amounted to approximately HK$116.2 million.
  • As at 30 June 2026, the Group operated a total of 190 chain retail stores
  • Basic earnings per share was approximately HK11.6 cents. The Board recommended the payment of interim dividend of HK11.0 cents per share.

Financial Highlights:

For the 6 months ended 30 Jun
HK$'000 2026 2025 Change
Revenue 1,450,897 1,436,576 +1.0%
Sales derived from private label products 277,194 251,203 +10.3%
Gross profit 518,758 518,177 +0.1%
Interim dividend per share (HK cents) 11.0 11.0 -

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 31 August 2026 – Best Mart 360 Holdings Limited ("Best Mart 360" or the "Company", together with its subsidiaries, the "Group"; stock code: 2360.HK), a leading leisure food retailer in Hong Kong, announced its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2026 ("the Period under Review"). During the Period under Review, the revenue recorded by the Group amounted to approximately HK$1,450,897,000, representing an increase of approximately 1.0% as compared to approximately HK$1,436,576,000 for the six months ended 30 June 2025 (the "Corresponding Period Last Year").

During the Period under Review, profit attributable to owners of the Company amounted to approximately HK$116,221,000.

For the six months ended 30 June 2026, gross profit of the Group was approximately HK$518,758,000, representing an increase of approximately 0.1%, as compared to gross profit of approximately HK$518,177,000. Gross profit margin during the period was approximately 35.8%. During the Period under Review, basic earnings per share of the Group was approximately HK11.6 cents. The Board recommended the payment of interim dividend of HK11.0 cents per share.

BUSINESS REVIEW

CHAIN RETAIL STORES

As at 30 June 2026, the Group operated a total of 190 chain retail stores, including 184 chain retail stores in Hong Kong and 6 chain retail stores in Macau, respectively. During the Period under Review, the Group continued to implement its store network optimization strategy to fully showcase its diverse product portfolio, further enhance its overall brand image and provide customers with a more comfortable shopping environment.

Since 2021, the Group has launched its brand of global wine and food stores "FoodVille", which provides mid-to-high-end, premium food products from around the globe. These include fine wines, premium chocolates, health foods, cheese, Western sauces and ingredients from around the world, aming to cater to the market's pursuit of a quality of life and expanding the Group's customer base. As at 30 June 2026, the Group operated a total of 8 retail stores under the brand.

During the Period under Review, the rental expenses (on a cash basis) of the Group's retail stores accounted for approximately 9.7% of its sales revenue.

THE PRODUCTS

During the Period under Review, the Group adhered to its global procurement strategy, sourcing high-quality products from around the world to provide customers with a diversified range of choices. During the Period under Review, the Group sold over 1,045 brands and more than 3,054 stock keeping units ("SKUs") of products in total. The Group continuously optimised its product portfolio and actively introduced a variety of new products and flavours to meet customers' ever-changing needs.

To enrich its product mix and maintain effective control over product quality, supply stability and profit margins, the Group continued to actively develop its private label products. During the Period under Review, sales derived from private label products amounted to approximately HK$277,194,000 (six months ended 30 June 2025: approximately HK$251,203,000), which accounted for approximately 19.1% of the Group's total revenue for the Period under Review. The Group had a total of 12 private labels covering approximately 272 SKUs of products, including masks, canned Chinese delicacies, cereals, milk, honey, nuts and dried fruits as well as a wide range of leisure food products.

MEMBERSHIP SCHEME AND MARKETING & PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES

As at 30 June 2026, the Group had a cumulative total of approximately 2,469,754 registered fans and members (30 June 2025: approximately 2,243,198). As at 30 June 2026, the number of mobile app members reached approximately 1,374,462 (30 June 2025: approximately 1,238,775).

During the Period under Review, the Group continued to carry out a variety of marketing activities, including "Best Price", "Instant Redemption upon Purchase" and other promotional campaigns, which provided customers with a series of special offers on selected quality products as a way to show its appreciation for their support and effectively enhance customer loyalty. The Group also launched a new brand promotion campaign, namely "Best Mart, Always a Friendly Buy", in 2026. By integrating online and offline promotional channels, the Group further strengthened its brand image and enhanced its interaction and connection with customers.

The Group also utilised a variety of outdoor media, such as large-scale advertisements at MTR stations and truck wraps, together with marketing strategies on digital media and social platforms, to further increase its brand exposure and market penetration, thereby attracting more new customers to shop at its stores.

In addition, the Group actively fulfilled its corporate social responsibility by partnering with the charitable foundation under China Merchants Group to launch the "Care 360˚" Neighborhood Support Programme, which aids families in need, continuously promotes community care and inclusion and actively puts into practice the core principles of corporate sustainability.

EMPLOYEES

As at 30 June 2026, the Group employed a total of 1,257 full-time and part-time employees (31 December 2025: 1,227). The increase in the total number of employees was primarily due to the Group's recruitment of additional staff for its newly opened stores. To retain talent and provide its employees with appropriate incentives to enhance their sense of belonging and loyalty, the Group regularly reviews and updates its employee remuneration packages and benefit plans, taking into account labour market supply and remuneration trends as well as individual employee performance. During the Period under Review, the staff costs of the Group (excluding emoluments of the Directors) accounted for approximately 9.6% of its total revenue (six months ended 30 June 2025: approximately 9.7%).

OUTLOOK

Global geopolitical tensions remain high, and uncertainty persists regarding the pace of the external economic recovery. Meanwhile, the active expansion of mainland Chinese e-commerce platforms into Hong Kong has driven the popularity of cross-border online shopping, further intensifying competition in the local retail market. Amid complex and increasingly competitive market conditions, the overall business environment for the retail sector is expected to remain under pressure in the second half of 2026. However, as Hong Kong hosts a series of major international events and exhibitions as well as cultural and sports activities, the number of visitors to Hong Kong and their willingness to spend are steadily recovering. At the same time, consumption of daily necessities has demonstrated strong resilience. Market demand for value-for-money globally sourced food products and healthy snacks continues to grow, presenting the Group with solid development opportunities. Looking ahead, the Group remains cautiously optimistic about its business prospects. To address intense market competition, we are committed to refining operational management, optimizing business processes, and maintaining strict cost controls.

To further strengthen its connection with consumers, the Group officially launched a rebranding campaign in June 2026, adopting "Best Mart, Always a Friendly Buy" as its new core brand value and striving to build a more welcoming, youthful, vibrant and creative brand image. Regarding its store network management, the Group will balance strategic expansion with operational optimization. On one hand, the Group will capitalise on appropriate market opportunities and continue to expand its footprint through a "dual-brand" strategy featuring "Best Mart 360˚" and "FoodVille", aiming to precisely meet the demand for high-quality food across different customer segments. On the other hand, the Group will adhere to strict capital-return discipline by actively negotiating with landlords for more flexible and reasonable lease terms, while regularly reviewing the operational efficiency of existing stores. Through these efforts, the Group aims to comprehensively enhance the overall profitability of its network and deepen its presence in the mass retail market.

Faced with a complex, ever-changing and highly competitive market environment, the Group is comprehensively exploring and researching the application of artificial intelligence in its business processes, aiming to enhance operational efficiency through innovative technology. The Group will further deepen its online-offline integration strategy, fully leverage the advantages provided by the extensive member database of its mobile app and implement targeted marketing through big data analysis to effectively increase member engagement and overall repeat purchase rates.

In terms of online channels, the Group will strengthen its collaboration with the foodpanda mall platform to ensure a seamless shopping experience. The Group will also remain agile in our operational strategies to optimize overall sales performance.

Guided by its core brand philosophy of "Best Quality" and "Best Price", the Group will make every effort to expand its upstream supplier network while ramping up the development of its private label products. These initiatives will solidify our competitive pricing advantage while effectively meeting the market demand for daily necessities. The Board is confident that, through prudent yet flexible strategic planning, strong brand appeal and an optimised product portfolio, the Group will successfully enhance customer loyalty. This will steadily drive the business toward sustainable growth, thus creating long-term and robust returns for shareholders.

Hashtag: #BestMart360

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About Best Mart 360 Holdings Limited

Best Mart 360 Holdings Limited, mainly operates chain retail stores under the brand "Best Mart 360˚". It offers a wide collection of imported prepackaged leisure foods and other grocery products, principally from overseas. The Group's business objective is to offer "Best Quality" and "Best Price" products to customers through continuous efforts on global procurement with a mission to provide comfortable shopping environment and pleasurable shopping experience to customers. As at 30 June 2026, the Group operates 190 retail stores that are strategically located across 18 districts in Hong Kong and Macau. In addition, the Group's new global gourmet store, "FoodVille", was officially opened in September 2021, which mainly provides globally sourced medium-to-high-end quality food products.

** This press release is distributed by Media OutReach Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **

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