'Sympathetic' humanoids at vanguard of robot solutions to elderly care

Lighter, more affordable

Zhang Hua, marketing director of ULS Robotics, said their products have been applied in the industrial field, including equipment manufacturing and logistics enterprises, for years, with exports to 17 countries. However, they have only been tested in China's elderly care system for a year.

Challenges include making the design more lightweight and reducing costs while transforming the products from industrial and hospital rehabilitation use to elderly care applications, Zhang said.

"When exoskeleton robots become a household product, people's expectation is that they should be as light as clothes. We've been able to continuously reduce the weight of the product from tens of kilograms. We are scheduled to release an 800-gram product during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai this July," he said.

The company has also made continuous progress in cost reduction. While an exoskeleton robot used for medical rehabilitation at a hospital costs millions of yuan, the target price for a household device is 4,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan, making it as "affordable as a smartphone", Zhang said.

By 2030, the global market for eldercare exoskeleton robots could reach a staggering 48 billion yuan, according to industry forecasts.

ULS Robotics said that from a technical perspective, robots worn on the human body are even more complex than humanoid robots, as every person's gait differs. Once a user puts on an exoskeleton robot, the system must quickly respond to his or her needs and pace, deducing whether the user wants to walk on flat ground or go up and down stairs, and how high the legs need to be lifted.

"Moreover, many elderly people have underlying health issues, which cause their gait to be incorrect. This requires the robot to be smarter in order to perceive, learn, and adapt to the user, rather than just enhancing his or her movements," said Zhang.

At the International Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas in January, Zhang observed that robots in the elderly care sector were mainly divided into three categories: service-oriented humanoid robots, function-enhancing exoskeletons that help seniors regain the joy and self-esteem of taking care of themselves, and emotional support companions, which were usually in the form of companion animals.

"It is anticipated that within the next decade or two, a wide array of robotic solutions will become commonplace in households worldwide, revolutionizing the way we care for and support our aging population," Zhang said.