In November 2023, reports indicated that domestic service robot products included welcoming robots, food delivery robots, building delivery robots, cleaning robots, and medical robots. Cleaning robots and other products were already being used in hotels, office buildings, and other settings. A report pointed out that in the delivery robot segment, one company had a high market share and global shipment volume. In December 2025, a robot exhibition center opened in Jinan, showcasing commercial cleaning robots capable of operating along preset paths and consumer-grade household cleaning robots. During the same period, a company released a robot dog product.
The application of cleaning robots has expanded from homes to commercial services, and offline experience stores help raise public awareness. Companies in this field employ overseas expansion strategies including building localization systems, implementing market adaptation, and optimizing products and services. Chinese companies possess a certain foundation in supply chain, cost, and AI technology, but also face challenges such as adapting to the needs of overseas markets.
In 2026, exports of cleaning robots and other products increased. In January 2026, cleaning robot products were included in Shenzhen's New Year foreign trade statistics. In the same month, Dreame Technology showcased its embodied intelligent robotic vacuum cleaner for the first time at CES 2026, demonstrating the latest applications of AI and embodied intelligence technology in the field of home cleaning robots and integrating it as part of its whole-house intelligent ecosystem.
On January 14, 2026, the desert environment solar thermal heliostat cleaning robot independently developed by Shenyang Instrument Science Research Institute Co., Ltd. of China National Machinery Industry Corporation (SINOMACH) was included in the "Guidance Catalogue for the Promotion and Application of the First (Set) of Major Technical Equipment in Liaoning Province (2025 Edition)". This robot is specifically designed for solar thermal power generation projects in extreme environments such as deserts and Gobi, and features multiple modes including high-pressure rinsing and dry cleaning. It has already been deployed in several large-scale solar thermal power generation projects in China, improving cleaning efficiency and power generation reliability.
