AWE2026: Household Service Robot Industry Development Forum and the Inaugural Conference of the Household Service Robot Specialty Committee Held in Shanghai

On March 12, the opening day of AWE2026, the Home Service Robot Industry Development Forum and the Inaugural Meeting of the Home Service Robot Special Committee, hosted by the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, was grandly held at the Himalayan Hotel in Shanghai. The conference theme was “AI Empowerment: New Ecosystem for Home ‘Machines’,” gathering academic authorities from Tsinghua University, industry pioneers in embodied intelligence, and leading home appliance companies. It deeply analyzed technological breakthroughs in the integration of large models and embodied intelligence, decoded the growth logic of the home service robot market, and addressed core industry bottlenecks for practical implementation.

At the same time, the China Household Electrical Appliances Association’s Home Service Robot Special Committee was announced and launched its first White Paper on the Development of the Home Service Robot Industry, marking a new phase of cross-sector collaboration among home appliance, AI, robotics, core components, and new materials companies.

Opportunities and challenges coexist; scene applications are already underway

Currently, the robotics industry has become a key entry point for a new wave of technological and industrial revolutions. As the ultimate goal of the industry, home scenarios have become a consensus for strategic deployment.

Zhang Chonghe, President of the China Light Industry Council, stated in his speech that China is the world’s largest robot market and the production base for 55% of global robot products. By 2025, the output of service robots is expected to reach 18.58 million units, a 16.1% year-on-year increase; segmented products for elderly care, cleaning, companionship, and other scenarios are rapidly developing. Leading home appliance companies like Haier, Hisense, and Midea are taking the lead, deploying comprehensive service robot strategies around household scenarios, promoting the upgrade of home appliances from single intelligent terminals to smart service carriers. Many robotics companies are intensively R&Ding, exploring household scene needs, and launching a series of demand-driven robot products and solutions. The collaboration between the home appliance and robotics industries is bringing home service robots from labs into daily life, transforming concepts into real applications.

Zhang Chonghe, President of the China Light Industry Council

In his speech, Ren Xue’an, Secretary of the Party Committee of the General Manager’s Office of China Central Radio and Television (CCTV), said that in recent years, CCTV has produced a series of high-quality programs on AI and robotics, immersively showcasing the practical value of home service robots, promoting rapid technological transformation, and advancing industry-wide inclusive development. The prominent appearance and impressive performance of robots at the 2026 CCTV Spring Festival Gala left a deep impression on audiences nationwide and globally. In this industry transformation, CCTV is not just a recorder and witness but also a strong participant and promoter, leveraging national platform strength to lead and break barriers like never before. For long-term, stable, and healthy development, the industry must focus on five core elements: technology, capital, talent, ecology, and branding, forming a collaborative, closed-loop development pattern. CCTV will fully integrate large and small screens, online and offline resources, domestic and international high-quality assets, and serve as a national brand rights confirmation platform, a mass brand recognition magnet, and a full-cycle brand growth engine—empowering industry and enterprise development and helping intelligent technology reach every household.

Ren Xue’an, Secretary of the Party Committee of the General Manager’s Office, CCTV

Haier Smart Home has extensive experience in home service robot applications and rich scene deployment. In his keynote on “Evolution and Practice of Home Appliances in the AI and Robotics Era,” Haier Vice President and R&D Platform General Manager Shu Hai said that home appliances were originally designed to solve household chores, but some tasks still require human effort. This is because appliances lack two key capabilities: understanding the physical world and generalization of operations. To further reduce chores, the industry is trending toward two directions: AI-enabled appliances and embodied appliances. The core feature of AI appliances is proactive intelligence—predicting user needs and automatically providing services without explicit commands, such as Haier’s AI Eye series. Embodied appliances feature spatial intelligence—understanding space, building environment models, recognizing object relationships, and planning paths—enabling autonomous actions in real-world environments, as demonstrated by Haier’s companion, cleaning, and general-purpose robots at AWE2026. The companion robot can help control all smart home devices, follow us into each room, and assist in elderly care. The cleaning robot, unlike typical vacuum cleaners, uses tools like vacuum, electric mop, and grippers, and can clear clutter such as slippers or toys, placing them in designated areas or storage bins.

Shu Hai, Vice President of Haier Group and General Manager of Haier Smart Home R&D Platform

At AWE2026, Haier showcased its companion robot (top left), cleaning robot (top right), and general-purpose robot (bottom left and right).

Home scenarios are complex and diverse. The deployment of humanoid robots must align with scene needs; without scene requirements, user pain points, and business logic, even the most advanced technology remains theoretical. The elderly care and companionship scene offers the broadest stage for embodied intelligence technology. Dai Zhihui, Vice President of Shanghai Fourier Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., explained the challenges and solutions for humanoid robots in elderly care scenarios. He identified three core pain points: first, disconnection from real needs—usability, practicality, and emotional companionship still need breakthroughs; second, safety and trust systems are incomplete—standards, privacy, and responsibility boundaries must be clarified; third, poor adaptation to unstructured home environments—reliability in real scenarios needs improvement. Fourier’s approach leverages its decade-long experience in rehabilitation, using accumulated technology, scene understanding, and user base to solve industry problems and scale embodied intelligence in elderly care. Fourier’s third-generation humanoid robot, GR-3 (“Cat Head”), features up to 55 degrees of freedom, supports humanoid motion control, dexterous operations, and full-body remote control, exploring applications in emotional companionship, rehabilitation training, and facility patrol. The company has built a comprehensive robot technology platform covering core components, body design, and interaction intelligence, creating a “user-centric” integrated tech ecosystem for rapid iteration and scene adaptation.

Dai Zhihui, Vice President of Shanghai Fourier Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.

In terms of scene applications, home service robots have already made some progress. The conference featured a special live robot demonstration segment that became a highlight.

Hisense showcased an autonomous household chores robot capable of cooking, folding laundry, and delivering drinks. Meituan Waimai’s TSTG robot performed a seamless delivery and elevator service. Luming Technology presented a dance performance by its companion robot “Luzmiao” and showcased its unique data collection devices. Zhejiang University’s Incubated “Hexuan” humanoid robot band delivered an impressive live performance. TCL, FOTILE, and Zhejiang Humanoid Robot Innovation Center demonstrated various household robot functions. Zhishen’s quadruped robot “Gangbeng” also performed a cute dance show, eliciting smiles.

Despite these promising developments, the home service robot industry still faces many challenges.

Professor Sun Fuchun of the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Tsinghua University and Vice Chairman of the Chinese Artificial Intelligence Society identified five major challenges in the “last mile” of deployment: first, artificial general intelligence (AGI) has not yet been achieved—current AI excels in specific domains but still relies heavily on remote control; actions like pouring water or tying shoelaces are complex for robots, involving high-dimensional joint control, force feedback, and visual reasoning. Only by overcoming AGI can robots truly become human “life partners.” Second, the “Moravec paradox” in physical tasks—simple actions like folding clothes or grasping cups are difficult for robots, while complex tasks like calculations or chess are easy. Third, hardware and integration shortcomings—rapid algorithm development contrasts with slower progress in overall design, system integration, and reliability testing. Fourth, data acquisition faces “last mile” difficulties—large data collection challenges, scarcity of high-quality data, and scene-specific solutions need further exploration. Fifth, safety, ethics, and cost issues—robots weighing dozens of kilograms could cause harm if misoperated, responsibilities are unclear; constant data collection via cameras and sensors poses privacy risks; high-end companion robots cost around ten thousand yuan, making them unaffordable for most families.

Sun Fuchun, Professor at Tsinghua University and Vice Chairman of the Chinese Artificial Intelligence Society

Official establishment of the Home Service Robot Special Committee

Faced with these challenges, the China Household Electrical Appliances Association’s Home Service Robot Special Committee (hereafter “Home Service Robot Committee”) was established. The inaugural ceremony marked a climax of the conference.

During the event, Vice Secretary-General of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, Wan Chunhui, announced that Haier Vice President Shu Hai would serve as the first director of the Home Service Robot Committee, with Haier Robotics as the inaugural chair unit. Hisense, Fourier, TCL, Wolong Electric Drive, Midea, OBOR Zhongguang, Changhong, and FOTILE were appointed as vice chair units. Notably, Jiang Feng, Executive Director of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, awarded appointment letters to these companies and witnessed the establishment of the committee.

Jiang Feng, President of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, with the chair and vice chair units

Regarding the background and current participation of enterprises in the committee, Wan Chunhui explained: “By 2025, the robotics industry is booming, and home scenarios are recognized by all as the ultimate goal of the industry. More and more companies are investing heavily in home scene deployment, from data collection to real-scene training, all centered around home scenarios. However, the complexity of home environments presents common issues such as redundant data collection, inconsistent technical paths, and lack of standards. Collaboration between home appliance and robotics companies also faces many hurdles. In September 2025, the 7th Council of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association passed a resolution to establish the Home Service Robot Professional Committee, aiming to build an industry ecosystem platform integrating home appliances and robotics, uniting efforts to promote healthy, orderly, and high-quality industry development. As of the first working meeting on March 11, 2026, our initial member companies have exceeded 50, covering leading enterprises across the entire home robot industry chain, including home appliances, embodied intelligence, companionship robots, machine vision, joint modules, AI models, AI motion control, AI chips, new materials, and batteries—truly achieving industry chain synergy.”

Wan Chunhui, Vice Secretary-General of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association

Jiang Chonghe also expressed three hopes for the Home Service Robot Committee: first, to build a strong, effective platform quickly, gathering industry strength, attracting more home service robot manufacturers, tech innovation centers, scene experience, and promotion centers, fostering a modern industry chain with upstream and downstream collaboration, academia, and research; second, to leverage the committee’s role to promote high-quality development of home robots—guiding enterprises to focus on needs, integrate into the aging economy, and develop more elderly-friendly, affordable home service robots to benefit the broader public; third, to strengthen association leadership, standardize operations, and safeguard sustainable industry growth.

First White Paper on Industry Development Released; In-Depth Dialogue at the Forum

Additionally, the first “White Paper on the Development of the Home Service Robot Industry” was launched.

Yu Hao, Secretary-General of the Home Service Robot Committee and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of “Electrical Appliances” magazine, provided an interpretation. He explained that the white paper covers consumer insights, industry analysis, and future outlooks and recommendations. Consumer insights show that awareness is strong, but in-depth understanding remains low, creating a risk of perception gaps. However, high purchase intent indicates a market in growth. Companies should focus on converting expectations into actual purchases through product experience and services. He predicts four trends: first, from single-function to multi-function integration; robots will evolve from performing one task to providing comprehensive home services. Second, from scene-specific to central control of the entire smart home ecosystem, breaking device silos. Third, from purely tools to emotionally interactive companions, understanding user emotions and becoming family members’ emotional partners. Fourth, decreasing prices and increasing penetration—technological maturity and mass production will make robots more affordable, accelerating adoption in ordinary households.

Yu Hao, Secretary-General of the Home Service Robot Committee

After the white paper was introduced, the conference featured a deep discussion on “Smart Entry into Homes, Embodied Breakthrough—Scene Revolution and Ecosystem of Home Service Robots,” inviting Song Wei from Zhejiang University’s Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, Dr. Zhang Mingju, R&D Director at Hisense Xinghai Technology (Hangzhou), and Dr. Ding Yan, CTO of Luming Robotics, to explore future directions for home service robots.

Looking ahead, despite the many difficulties in practical deployment, under the coordination of the Home Service Robot Committee, industry peers across home appliances, robotics, core components, large models, chips, and new materials can work together, continuously overcoming key technologies and unlocking scene applications. This will gradually clarify the path for home service robots’ real-world deployment and foster a society of human-machine coexistence.