Eldercare robot Photo: VCG

Editor's Note:

Large models,MKS sports robots, intelligent manufacturing, autonomous driving... In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has made headlines around the world. 

In real life, AI has permeated all aspects of human society, helping with scientific research in laboratories, assisting in the restoration of mysterious ancient scrolls at archaeological sites, and helping to find abducted children in the vast sea of humanity. The development of technology has also brought challenges in various aspects such as in ethics and law. Many experts advocate that humans should see technology as a tool created for the ultimate purpose of serving humanity, making life and work more efficient and comfortable. 

In light of this, the Global Times has launched the "AI empowers industry and improves people's livelihoods" series, showcasing the tremendous energy and broad prospects that AI brings across every aspect of society. 

This is the sixth installment in this series. It focuses on the integration of AI technologies into the silver economy. It demonstrates what a vital role robots and other intelligent products can play in facilitating the lives of senior citizens given the increasingly aging population.

Eldercare robot Photo: VCG

"Hi, robot, play a Peking opera piece for me!"

"Hi, robot, do you remember where I put my key?"

"Hi, robot, call my daughter."

"Hi, robot..."

Whenever you want something, you can just call your nursing robot. Would you like to live a later life like this when you get old? 

No matter what your answer is, such a scenario is happening in the daily lives of more and more Chinese senior citizens as AI technologies are rapidly integrated into the eldercare industry in China.  

According to the Xinhua News Agency, 297 million Chinese people were 60 and above as of 2023, accounting for 21.1 percent of the total population. Projections estimate that by about 2035, the number of people aged 60 and above in China will exceed 400 million, accounting for more than 30 percent of the total population.

Meanwhile, according to the National Health Commission, the majority of senior citizens in China live in home- and community-based care, forming a pattern known as "9073." This means that about 90 percent of senior citizens are cared for at home, around 7 percent rely on community support for their care, and 3 percent reside in institutional care facilities.

Faced with the contradiction of growing pressure along with an aging society and the deep-rooted in-home care tradition for senior citizens, China's current silver generation chooses to embrace technologies for a wonderful and independent later life.   

Chinese governments at different levels have also stressed the importance of technologies in the deepening of its eldercare service reform. According to new guidelines to streamline eldercare service reforms by the Chinese State Council, national key sci-tech projects to promote the development of humanoid robots, brain-computer interfaces (BCI), and AI technologies for eldercare, Xinhua reported on January 7. 

Accelerated efforts

Senior care robots are familiar products in many countries facing increasingly aging populations. In Japan, for example, robots have been rolled out in nursing homes, offices, and schools as the country's population ages and its workforce shrinks.

Many places in China have been accelerating their efforts to explore the integration of AI with eldercare. 

In a draft plan (2025-2027) to cultivate the humanoid robot industry in Beijing that was open to public opinion between January 6 and 10, the Beijing municipality government stresses the deployment of robots in caregiving roles such as emotional companionship, health monitoring, and intelligent household services.

In practice, Beijing is promoting intelligence upgrade in care services for the elderly group in communities and nursing houses. In some communities in Haidian District, community committees are helping senior citizens who live alone, especially those who have difficulty in moving around, by installing an AI robot called Xiao Lianin their homes, according to the Beijing Daily.

Equipped with more than 100 eldercare service programs and a base of 200,000 in eldercare knowledge, Xiao Liancan meet the basic quotidian needs of seniors, such as emergency assistance, nursing, shopping, transportation, maintenance, and bill payment, not to mention basic functions like delivering news reports, playing music, and suggesting comedies, according to the report.

Due to the upgrades of the large models in recent years, care robots now possess stronger language learning, understanding, and generative capacities. They can engage in more natural and fluent communication based on the senior citizen's different interests, hobbies, and personality traits. For these robots, every conversation with the senior citizens is a training opportunity, helping them to continuously optimize service quality and provide a more heartfelt emotional companionship for seniors.

In an eldercare home in the Hedong district, North China's Municipality of Tianjin, a special employee, an AI robot called Xiao Bao, chats with and tells jokes to senior citizens at the facility. 

"Xiao Baois so intelligent! It's so much fun chatting with it," one senior living at the facility was quoted as saying in an introduction for the local construction of intelligent eldercare services by the Hedong district government released in December 2024. 

"She can remember everything I have said. I really enjoy chatting with her. Usually, my children are busy with work, and I often feel lonely at home; now it accompanies me like a real person, making life much more interesting," Wang Jie in Zhengzhou, North China's Hebei Province, told People's Daily when commenting on her robot Yun Yun. 

An elderly person walks with assistance of an exoskeleton. Photo: Courtesy of Guangzhou Shipeng Technology

More supportive products

Overall, China's smart eldercare industry is still in its infancy. It entered a vigorous promotional phase in 2021 after the release of an action plan for the development of the smart health and elderly care industry (2021-2025), Hong Yinglan, president of the Guangdong Aging Industry Association, told the Global Times. 

With expanding demand and the development of AI technologies and robotics, China's eldercare robot industry has accelerated its growth in recent years. Hong expects the market size for eldercare robots to continue to rise, probably reaching $13.2 billion by 2029. 

Specifically, the industry may see a significant increase in 2025 as a result of the empowerment of comprehensive policies following the 2021 action plan. On the other hand, people born during the second baby boom in China starting in 1962 are entering their old age. With advanced awareness of retirement and stronger consumption abilities, these people will bring about new opportunities for the industry, Hong explained.

As the market scale continues to expand and relevant technologies are continually upgraded, the application scenarios for eldercare robots will also continue to broaden from simple companionship and caregiving functions to diversified applications such as health monitoring, rehabilitation training, and psychological intervention, covering all aspects of senior citizens' lives, and becoming an indispensable part of their daily existence, especially for those with medical conditions or living with disabilities.

According to a report by China Central Television, in October 2024, there were approximately 45 million senior citizens living with disabilities or dementia in China, while there were only 500,000 certified eldercare professionals. According to the national standard ratio of eldercare professionals to senior citizens, which is 1:4, the gap for caregiving talent exceeds 10 million.

The Global Times searched eldercare robot products on China's leading online shopping website Taobao, with various products popping out including feeding robots, cleaning robots, and robots that aid paralytic seniors to walk and use the restroom. The prices of these products ranges from 1,000 yuan ($136) to 40,000 yuan. 

Various smart eldercare products are also continuously being launched to enrich the smart life of seniors, such as smart beds for paralyzed seniors, smart watches, and smart smoke detectors.

 The Global Times learned that exoskeletons are also being widely used by elderly people for walking assistance and rehabilitation training for the elderly, providing them with greater convenience and safety in their daily lives. 

For example, an exoskeleton developed by Guangzhou Shipeng Technology Co, LTD combines with an ergonomic design, aligns well with human movement and is equipped with advanced sensors, control systems, and AI algorithms. By continuously learning and optimizing its algorithms, the exoskeleton can better adapt to the needs of different users and adjust training programs. This personalized training approach allows each user to experience walking training that is most suitable for them, the Global Times learned from the company.

A visitor touches the finger of a mechanical hand at a booth at the 26th China High-Tech Fair (CHTF) in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Nov. 15, 2024. A variety of robots and products of related industries are exhibited at the ongoing 26th CHTF, attracting lots of attention. Photo: Xinhua

Improvements needed 

In a previous interview with the Global Times, Zhang Rui, founder and executive director of Beijing Ironman Technology, said that the ultimate dream of global humanoid robot developers is to let humanoid robots be integrated into people's daily lives and serve every family.

But it won't be easy to realize the goal due to the complex environment in families, raising high requirements for robots, according to Zhang.

In terms of the development of the smart eldercare industry in China, despite the breakthroughs in recent years driven by supportive policies and developing technologies, there is still significant room for growth in standard formulation, technology research and development, support services, and talent development, according to Hong. 

From the perspective of techniques, the main challenge at present is the need to improve their perception and interaction capabilities. In complex home environments, accurately identifying the intentions, emotions, and actions of the seniors is quite difficult, Hong said. 

The high cost is another challenge faced by elderly care robots. Currently, the price of patrol robots used in the eldercare field is around 100,000 yuan; AI interactive robots can be priced below 100,000 yuan; while logistics and delivery robots are relatively cheaper, ranging from 30,000 to 40,000 yuan. Additionally, the costs associated with robot maintenance, upkeep, and software upgrades also raise concerns among consumers, she noted.

According to the guidelines of the State Council, an elderly care service network will be basically completed in China by 2029, with enhanced service capabilities, expanded capacity, improved quality, and efficiency. By 2035, the network will be more complete, and service supply and demand will be more coordinated with all in China being able to enjoy basic eldercare service, and an eldercare service system suitable for China's national conditions will have been finalized.

To seize these development opportunities along with the country's deepening reform in eldercare industry, in the future, smart eldercare enterprises need to significantly reduce costs, while on the other hand, they must focus on the overarching direction of integrating medical care with eldercare to ensure seniors can receive necessary medical care services at home or communities, or in eldercare facilities, according to Hong.

'Hi, robot, where is my key?'