On June 8 (local time), according to China Daily, Hubei Giga World Robot Company based in Wuhan city (Hubei province, China) said that it will implement a program to bring 100 human-shaped robots into households for free use from the third quarter of this year.
This business expects this to be an important milestone in the process of commercializing robots for household work.
The robot put into testing is named SeeLight S1. According to the company's introduction video, this device can perform a series of housework tasks such as cleaning beds, heating food, simple cooking, pouring milk, washing clothes, cleaning bathrooms, cleaning the house, drying and folding clothes, feeding fish or watering plants.
Mr. Ye Yun - Vice President in charge of research and development of Hubei Giga World Robot - said that the difference of SeeLight S1 lies in the ability to handle complex workflows in a real family environment instead of just repeating pre-programmed operations.
According to Mr. Ye Yun, the robot is built on an AI model platform capable of recognizing the environment, understanding context and performing tasks through daily communication commands.
The device can also adapt to changes in living space. When furniture is rearranged, the robot will automatically recognize the new environment, adjust its operating mode and continue to complete the work.
The company said that the robot also has the ability to learn from the process of use to improve performance over time.
Although the trial program has not fully announced the details, the company's official WeChat account has received more than 2,000 registered messages in a short time.
Many users expressed hope that robots can support family care, reduce housework pressure or accompany elderly people living alone.
Mr. Zhu Zheng - co-founder and Scientific Director of the company - said that households participating in the experiment will be selected to reflect many different family models in reality.
Morgan Stanley's report forecasts that the global human-shaped robot market could reach 5,000 billion USD by 2050 with more than 1 billion robots in operation. In which, China is forecast to be the country with the largest number of human-shaped robots in the world with more than 300 million devices used.
Experts believe that the demand for elderly care and the increase in families with both husband and wife working together are opening up a huge market for robot helpers in the future.
According to forecasts, in the next 5 years, humanoid robots may gradually become popular in households like refrigerators or washing machines today.
