Yijiahe (亿嘉和, 603666.SH), a commercial robot company, has unveiled its new robotic cleaners and a cloud management platform, marking the firm’s first step toward branching out into China’s burgeoning cleaning robot market.
At the product launch, held online on March 1, Yijiahe introduced its Qilin J110 outdoor robot sweeper, Kunpeng J40 and J30 indoor robot vacuum cleaners, and a cloud-based operational platform called Shanhai.
Yijiahe, which used to concentrate its business in areas including smart electricity, smart energy, industry and transportation and smart factory, appeared to be lured by the growth prospects of China’s massive autonomous robot cleaning market.
According to All View Cloud, a market data and intelligence provider, vacuum cleaner sales in China hit 30.9 billion yuan (US$44.75 billion) across online and offline retail channels in 2021, up 28.9% year on year.
Robotic vacuum cleaner is one of the bright spots within the category, recording breakneck growth for several consecutive years, data from All View Cloud shows.
Another study by zycybg.com, a private industry research institute, predicts that by 2025, China’s commercial robotic cleaner market will be valued at nearly 100 billion yuan.
With huge market potential, Yijiahe, headquartered in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, apparently has bet on the sector, like many others, bolstered by research technologies it has accumulated in autonomous driving, smart cruise and positioning, remote control, big data analytics, scene sensing decision-making, high-precision map, sensor infusion, among others.
Yijiahe’s Qilin and Kunpeng series are meant to satisfy customers’ varied needs and provide tailor-made cleaning solutions, said the company at the launch.
Its Qilin J110 comes with self-developed garbage-packaging modules, able to dispose of trash on its own. At the same time, equipped with AI image recognition, J110 supports self-initiated cleaning of street corners and other inaccessible spots, with the capacity to clean 8,000 sqm per hour.
Kunpeng J40 indoor vacuum cleaner is the first product of its kind to possess five functions including sweeping, cleaning, vacuuming, mopping and dusting.
It also comes with an optional workstation that autonomously recharges itself, refills and discharges water, removes the water tank and purifies used water.
Through AIoT technologies, the J40 can interact with turnstiles and elevators, and move freely in different sections and reach different floors of a building.
Meanwhile, J30, another member of the Kunpeng family, is also intended for indoor use. It is ideal for application in supermarket since the device is also capable of restocking shelves aside from cleaning, thereby relieving staff pressure.
The Shanhai operational platform, with a flattened interface, allows for customized services and remote control of the robot fleet.
Users can access cleaning reports to schedule robot shifts. Through cloud-based services, the platform also enables users to monitor the robot’s performance, including workflow status, maintenance records, and durables replacement.
Notwithstanding the market potential, Yijiahe faces stiff competition from more established players such as Gaussian Robotics (高仙机器人) and Ecovacs (科沃斯, 603486.SH).
