China orders trial of aged care robots that can cook, clean – China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has ordered extensive trials of intelligent aged care robots.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/10/china_aged_care_robot_trials/
China orders trial of aged care robots that can cook, clean – China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has ordered extensive trials of intelligent aged care robots.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/10/china_aged_care_robot_trials/
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From the article
The Ministry’s [announcement](https://www.miit.gov.cn/jgsj/zbys/wjfb/art/2025/art_577966ee40fb4d748ce7e5acecc0587f.html) notes that China’s population is ageing, and families are therefore increasingly called on to care for their elders due to a shortage of aged care workers.
Beijing wants to know if robots can help, so it has called for applicants to participate in trials of mechanized carers.
The Ministry wants organizations capable of building at least 200 bots and trialing them in 20 locations. Applicants need to be Chinese companies with aged care experience, plus clean credit, environmental, and safety records.
A separate document outlines the scenarios Beijing wants bots to master, including cooking and cleaning, helping people to walk outside and over varied terrain without falling, and lifting the elderly when needed.
Robots that can help people to toilet also make the list, as do machines that can feed those unable to do so themselves.
Terrible title… I thought a robot was going on trial. I think you mean study.
Based on a lot of videos I’ve seen of Chinese robots going apeshit, I wouldn’t be trusting their robots to look after my granny.
China desperately needs this. Japan and Korea next. Then the rest of the world, the way things are going! Hell, I might end up cleaning up after old people one day if I want one of the last remaining jobs. I hope China release the fatality count.
Isn’t this how I iRobot started? Infiltrate the homes.
An army of fully functional and reliable aged care robots still wouldn’t save China.
I’m finding it hard to belive that this is a true story and China is this far ahead of everyone else. No disrespect to China but I’d say the same about America.
This will be huge if they can get it to work.
My mother went from reasonably independent to home-bound this spring after getting sick with whatever was going around trying to kill us all back in January/February. My dad has had to go on FMLA leave to take care of her at home until she can either get an in-home caregiver approved from their insurance or she recovers enough that he’s comfortable leaving her home alone again.
An elder care robot would be an absolute dogsend right now for them. I’m all about it, my concern is that any robot that’s generalized enough to do all the things required is also going to be generalized enough to do those things in other settings. The elder care robot that cooks at home can also be purchased by restaurants and there go cook jobs. The elder care robot that safely lift fallen elderly people can also lift and manipulate packages and there go warehouse workers and half the logistics personnel. The elder care robot that can clean up at home can be purchased by hotels and now there are no more housekeepers. The very concept of this robot threatens the jobs of in-home healthcare workers.
It’s going to be a great technology as long as we take care of the displaced workers.
They can’t even get a stationary dedicated robot to make a pizza.