(Credit: Rob Pegoraro)
LOS ANGELES–Convenience-store workers aren’t always the most communicative lot, but “Peter” said nothing to me during my stop at a VenHub Smart Store here and didn’t even return my gaze. Because “Peter” was a robot arm with no face or mouth.
This glass-fronted blue box on the ground floor of the LAX/Metro Transit Center station, adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport, dispenses with humans altogether.
Imagine this and other VenHub spots (two more in LA and two in Las Vegas) as a particularly wacky vending machine scaled up to the size of a van. Instead of pushing buttons to choose a bag of potato chips or a can of soda, you order through VenHub’s app. Then one of two robot arms (at this store, the other one sported a “Barb” label) plucks your purchase off the shelves.
That design allows for a wider variety of items, from the usual snacks and drinks to toiletries and gadget accessories, and, at this location, T-shirts, socks, and hats featuring the LA Metro’s capital-M logo. If you got off a plane at LAX and realized you forgot some items on your packing list, you’d have decent odds of restocking here.
On my recent visit to LA for the Cranky Dorkfest and SpotLAX avgeek events, I stopped by and, after finally finding the store not shown on the station maps, downloaded the VenHub app while standing in front of it. The Android version allowed me to shop as a guest without creating an account or granting more than approximate location permission; buying also required providing a phone number and granting precise location access.
The prices were lower than I would have expected: $9.99 for a USB-C power adapter or USB-C cable, $3.99 for a box of Cheez-Its, $3.79 for a Pop-Tart, $2.99 for a can of San Pellegrino or a 16-oz Cherry Coke.
Feeling both slightly thirsty and cheap, I opted for a $1.29 can of “Forever Strawberry” Perrier–with tax, $1.41. The app let me pay via Google Pay instead of typing in a credit card, and then Peter got to work, fetching the can from a refrigerated compartment and placing it above a door to a bin that would open from the outside.
I was confused for a moment when I saw the can left there, then realized the app was asking me to tap the “Open Bin” button. I did that, and the inner door flipped open to dump the can into the bin, after which the exterior door opened with a grinding noise.
I can report that my purchase was cold and refreshing, and that two other travelers looked amused as they watched my interactions with this store.
Minutes later, I got a notification that VenHub was issuing a refund for the purchase because the system apparently thought I had not picked up the can. (VenHub, I’m willing to Venmo the balance for the beverage I really did buy.)
Those low prices have not yet enabled VenHub to make money, with the NASDAQ-traded firm reporting a loss of $10.5 million in the second quarter of 2026, improving on a loss of $20.5 million in Q2 2025. That filing also cited a need for short-term capital to maintain operations over the next 12 months. But VenHub says individual stores do generate income.
“Yes, those locations are profitable for us,” Richard Land, investor relations advisor, said in a call on Friday. VenHub owns and operates two, including the LAX location, and has sold three others to third parties.
“Then there’s a lot of other costs that come into account,” he said, citing such expenses as depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation. “We’re still in our growth, ramping-up, expansion phase.”
Accordingly, VenHub’s roadmap includes putting more spots on the map. “We are focused on expanding through deployments with large companies, municipalities and government agencies, colleges and universities, and additional transportation hubs,” CEO Shahan Ohanessian said in a statement.
Unfortunately, US laws prohibit what I imagine would be a highly effective way to boost sales: following Japan's example by selling beer from vending machines.
About Our Expert
Rob Pegoraro writes about interesting problems and possibilities in computers, gadgets, apps, services, telecom, and other things that beep or blink. He’s covered such developments as the evolution of the cell phone from 1G to 5G, the fall and rise of Apple, Google’s growth from obscure Yahoo rival to verb status, and the transformation of social media from CompuServe forums to Facebook’s billions of users. Pegoraro has met most of the founders of the internet and once received a single-word email reply from Steve Jobs.
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