Nouveau riche Chinese mogul goes shopping accompanied by 8 robotic servants

A Chinese tycoon opted for an unusual entourage, taking eight “female” humanoid robots clad in yellow and red uniforms with him on a shopping spree. The man was seen purchasing luxury goods encircled by the silent but servile helpers.

The money-bag, who has been identified as Wang Shi Chung, was photographed on April 15 in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou as he undertook an outing to a mall to buy some rich man’s essentials, such as gold jewelry and other luxury products, the International Business Times reported. The helpers automatically followed their “master,” some of which carried his purchases while others looked after his coat and water bottles, all to the amazement of onlookers.

The man of fortune, who was apparently pleased with the attention drawn to his extravagant ways, continued his adventures the next day. On 16 April, he took his green-eyed trouble-proof companions to the Wanda theme park, where he introduced the “girls” to the giant Optimus Prime statue from Transformers, the International Business Times reported. Chung’s epic stroll made headlines in China, where some media outlets chastised the big shot for being vulgar and ill-cultured, labelling him a “Tu Hao” – a term used in China to describe a  rich person showing off their often sudden wealth.

However, not everybody was enthusiastic about the opulent display of wealth.

“My goodness! Walking around with ‘Robot Maids?’ Certainly not my cup of tea! What’s so big deal about it? Worst of all...robot maids holding water and towel for him. He’s not retarded, is he?”wrote Facebook user Han Yin Tan in commenting on Chung’s behavior.

“We ordinary people cannot buy even one leg of the robot. That just shows how ostentatious Tu Hao Wang Shi Chung’s behavior is,” concludes an article by the Chinese Toutiao.com news site, which first publicized the case, as cited by IBT.

However, there’s still a long way to go before artificial intelligence replaces humans, as a recent experiment employing robots as waiters has shown.