Chinese robot cleaner maker Narwal sets new standards for smart cleaning

BEIJING - Ji Jiafeng, a 37-year-old Beijing resident, has managed to alleviate the burden of tedious housework with the help of a robot cleaner.

"My robot vacuum and mop is like a personal cleaning assistant, cleaning the room when I go to work and presenting me with a comfortable environment when I arrive home," said Ji, who has enjoyed the convenience of the product for more than three years.

"My child messed up the rooms and loved running all over the place," said Ji. "The robot worked intelligently to keep the floor tidy and allowed me to spend more time with him."

As the living standards of Chinese people continues to improve, they are opting to pursue a better way of life and more convenient lifestyle. Smart home devices and appliances have since become increasingly popular, helping to ease the burden of household chores.

Robot cleaners originated in foreign countries. "European and American families prioritise vacuuming capabilities. When the robot vacuum and mop was introduced to China, its performance was not satisfactory," said Zhang Junbin, founder of Narwal, a Chinese household robot company.

"The floors in Chinese apartments are mostly covered by ceramic tile or wood flooring," he said, highlighting that "what Chinese users need is a mopping function."

Narwal, established in 2016, set out on its own path of innovation. It has come up with innovative functions such as the intelligent identification of dirt and autonomously generating cleaning solutions. This September, it introduced an AI bionic human eye system with dual cores and a binocular structure, which can identify more than 120 types of common dirt and objects with a minimum diameter of 5 millimeters.

To ensure information security and protect user privacy, the new system encrypts the whole process of information collection, data transmission and data storage.

So far, the company has applied for more than 1,100 core technology patents, including vision technology, AI large model, indoor positioning, high-speed motor control, simulators and accelerators.

Narwal is a footnote of the vibrant development of China's smart home industries. The country's leading AI company iFLYTEK developed another robot mop based on its robotic hyperbrain platform and large model to recognise complex voice and gesture orders and conduct autonomous AI strategy cleaning.

The country's technology giant Huawei has also set up more than 300 stores nationwide that specialise in whole house intelligence.

China has continued to advance high-quality development and fuel enterprises' innovative capacity as new engines for its long-term economic growth.

Together with Narwal, there were 58,400 robot enterprises in China's southern city Shenzhen as of 2023, with an increase of 10,400 in that single year. Furthermore, non-industrial robots accounted for 54.54 percent of the products from the enterprises, according to the Shenzhen Robotics Association.

This year's government work report acknowledged that the country will actively cultivate smart homes. Additionally, an outline of the strategic plan for expanding domestic demand from 2022 to 2035 proposed to increase the consumption of smart home appliances.

"Personalised smart home appliance products, including the robot mop, smart range hood and wall-hanging stove have injected freshness into ordinary daily life," said Wang Bo, a veteran kitchen design specialist who has worked at the global home furnishing giant IKEA for 15 years in Beijing.

"Real intelligence should bring convenience to everyday life and help people relax in their homes, rather than making the operation process more complicated," he said.

Insiders believe that there's still ample room for further technological advancements, which also means considerable opportunities for market expansion.

Some users have complained that their robot cleaners struggle to clean dust in corners. "If the current defects can be improved, I would like to try a new smart home appliance," said Chen Kaiye, a 24-year-old user of a robot cleaner.

She also enjoys recommending and purchasing such smart products for her parents. "I hope to bring more convenience to them since smart home appliances save a lot of time and effort," said Chen.

"With the upgrading of smart clean technology and growing number of users, it is entirely possible for the intelligent home clean solutions to be as popular and common as washing machines and air conditioners in the future," said Zhang.

Innovative cleaning products have not only gained popularity among Chinese consumers, but are also being warmly welcomed by overseas markets.

Narwal has brought its products to more than 30 countries and regions. As of the end of July this year, the revenue of the company's overseas business had increased by nearly 7.5 times year-on-year.

During the 2024 IFA, or Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin, Europe's largest consumer electronics exhibition in September, Hisense Europe CEO Han Jianmin said that the global home appliances sector is undergoing rapid transformation, driven by advancements in technologies like AI.

Chinese consumer electronics companies, through continuous innovation and brand-building, are moving up the global value chain and presenting a fresh image in international markets, Han noted. - XINHUA