Suzana Carvalho, a resident in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, stood before a robot that looked like a sleek vending unit.
Five minutes later, she smiled, holding a steaming cup of herbal beverage tailored to improve her health condition after accepting a brief scan and answering the robot's list of questions.
"It's incredible," Carvalho said. "I've always been curious about traditional Chinese medicine, but I didn't expect it to be so advanced."
This health consultation took place on April 17 at the Instituto Universitario Egas Moniz in Lisbon, where medical professionals from China and Portugal, faculty, and students gathered to witness the robot's debut on the campus.
The robot was jointly developed by the Macau University of Science and Technology and the Guangdong Provincial Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine, South China.
It combines intelligent hardware with a specialized TCM model developed in Hengqin, Guangdong province, alongside advanced AI technologies, including DeepSeek, according to the project's leader, Han Zitian, a professor at the School of Innovation Engineering of the Macau University of Science and Technology.
Han said the robot can store up to 1,300 prescriptions, most drawn from classic TCM formulas pre-vetted by experienced practitioners.
With health data gathered by built-in cameras, a pulse-sensing device and a list of questions, the robot can formulate a personalized herbal formula and offer a tea-like drink, creating a seamless "consultation-to-consumption" experience.
The robot is a big hit on the Lisbon campus and is often surrounded by a crowd. Its stock of ingredients was depleted within two to three hours of its debut.
"The robot's popularity is beyond our expectations," said Jose Joao Mendes, president of the Portuguese institute. "It gives us greater confidence in expanding collaboration with Chinese partners in this field."
Cooperation between Chinese and Portuguese institutions has been promoted recently across various fields, from joint laboratories and academic programs to clinical practice and professional training.
Looking ahead, Han said the team hopes to introduce more advanced versions of the robot with expanded diagnostic capabilities to Portugal, with Portugal's regulatory approval, to make TCM more accessible and serve the public abroad more efficiently.
