Beijing cleaner Lin Meiqiong found her work slightly easier after being paired with an AI-powered wheeled robot in a new human-robot cleaning service launched in China.
The service, offered by platform 58.com in partnership with robotics firm X Square, deploys the Quanta X1 Pro robot alongside human cleaners in homes in Beijing and Shenzhen. Equipped with cameras and mechanical arms, the robot identifies mess, picks up items and attempts basic household tasks like folding clothes.
Lin said the robot “reduced the workload a bit”, though she still handled most of the cleaning. In one example, while she scrubbed floors, the robot picked up rubbish and slowly folded clothes left on a sofa, taking several minutes to complete the task.
The service costs 149 yuan ($22) for three hours and has been booked by around 200 households since launching in March. Users said they were curious to see what the technology could do, noting that while imperfect, it sometimes produced surprising results, such as neatly folding trousers.
The initiative reflects China’s growing push into “embodied AI”, where robots are trained through real-world interaction rather than only digital data. Companies argue that deploying robots in real homes helps generate valuable training data, since there is no equivalent of a “robot internet” for learning physical tasks.
Experts say this hands-on approach is essential for improvement, even if current performance remains limited. However, robots still struggle with fine motor skills, particularly dexterity needed for complex household chores. Most systems also require human supervision for safety and emergency control.
Beyond technical limits, concerns remain over privacy, data handling and the lack of clear safety standards. Experts warn that widespread adoption is still far off, describing the technology as being at a “very elementary stage”.
Despite major investment in China’s embodied AI sector — tens of billions of yuan this year alone — researchers and users alike agree that robots are not yet close to replacing human domestic workers. For now, even participants like Lin view them as helpful assistants rather than replacements, saying simply: “After all, it’s a robot”. — AFP
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