XBOT Robot Barista Debuts on U.S. East Coast, Opens Hicksville Flagship Store

XBOT brought its AI-powered robotic coffee and dessert systems to the East Coast specialty coffee industry's biggest stage last week, demonstrating the Coffee Robot Lite and Ice Cream Robot at Booth #2421 during Coffee Fest New York before capping the push with a formal market launch and a physical flagship store in Hicksville, New York.

The trade show portion ran March 8-10 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, where Coffee Fest aggregates café owners, roasters, equipment manufacturers and entrepreneurs scouting new technologies for one of the world's most competitive coffee markets. XBOT's booth drew steady crowds of attendees drawn to the prospect of fully automated, contactless beverage and dessert preparation.

On the evening of March 11, Blue Sky Group hosted its 2026 Annual Gala and XBOT Coffee Fest Launch Event, formally introducing the robotic coffee system to the East Coast market. Michelle Lin, head of XBOT's U.S. operations, used the occasion to frame New York as the right entry point. "New York is a stage for innovation," Lin said. "We hope to combine embodied AI technology from China with the city's vibrant coffee culture."

The technology behind XBOT's products comes from InSpace Technology, the developer of the XBOT AI Coffee platform. Yang Xiaonan, InSpace Technology's co-founder and chief financial officer, addressed the reception and made clear that the Hicksville store is a beachhead, not an endpoint. "The flagship store is only the starting point of XBOT's U.S. strategy," Xiaonan said. "We look forward to bringing our robotic technology and service model to consumers and industry partners as the market for automated beverage solutions continues to develop."

The Hicksville flagship features both the Coffee Robot Lite and the Ice Cream Robot, the same two systems XBOT demonstrated on the Javits Center floor. Both are designed to handle contactless beverage and dessert preparation through automated robotics, removing the traditional barista from the transaction entirely.

For specialty coffee professionals who spent time at Booth #2421, the Hicksville location offers a chance to see how the company's hardware performs outside the controlled environment of a trade show floor, under real consumer demand and without a convention backdrop to generate foot traffic on its own.