Watch: Robot walks into Rolex store in New York, leaves peop ..

Seeing your fellow humans stroll past you? Ordinary. But spotting a humanoid casually strutting by? Now that’s a real-life sci-fi moment. Well, Fifth Avenue just got served a new kind of drama—and the main character? A robot. Yes, that’s right. A full-on, walking, waving, Rolex-shopping robot.

Developed by a Chinese robotics firm and retailing at a jaw-dropping $100,000, KOID—the humanoid robot—took to Fifth Avenue like it belonged on the cover of Vogue and the front page of Wired all at once. With human-like gestures, it waved at pedestrians, posed for selfies, and in the moment that truly broke the internet, walked into a Rolex store to try on a GMT-Master II like it had credit and taste. The sales associate? Totally unfazed. The passersby? Shocked, filming, whispering “is this real?” Yes. Very real.

The entire spectacle, orchestrated as part of a marketing campaign for a new Global Humanoid and Embodied Intelligence Index ETF, was designed to turn heads—and it delivered. The Instagram clips blew up, especially the one where KOID examined the Rolex like a Wall Street exec about to close a deal. It was uncanny: the way it moved, the natural posture, even the subtle tilt of its head—it was all just…too human.

People reacted exactly how you'd expect in 2025. Some were in awe, others were spooked. A little girl called the robot “cool” but added, “as long as they don’t take over the world.” One guy straight-up said he wouldn’t let it near his kids. And of course, the obligatory Terminator references came flying in like it was Judgment Day already. But there were cooler heads too—people who reminded everyone that we’ve already welcomed tech into every inch of our lives. Elevators, smartphones, cars that park themselves. Maybe KOID is just the next logical step.

And maybe, just maybe, this is how we start normalizing robots trying on watches while we pretend not to panic.

Because let’s be honest: the future isn’t some distant idea anymore. It’s here. It’s walking beside us. And sometimes, it’s wearing a Rolex.
**This news was published on Times of India on 5th August, 2025.