'New revolution' promises to end tedious tasks

Your next dish, package or takeout could arrive at your doorstep via a Chinese-made robot, as delivery robots have developed rapidly in the country and are now venturing into overseas markets.

On a short holiday in Singapore, I noticed a server robot at a restaurant busily swerving between tables and fetching dishes to hungry diners. The server robot always brings the dishes on time, never complains of being tired and is often tipped with dimes by frequent visitors, said an observer.

The delivery robot was developed by Shanghai-based unicorn Keenon Robotics. It has been "working" as an official employee for over two years at this restaurant.

China leads globally in the deployment of indoor delivery robots, which are widely used in restaurants, hotels, office buildings and shopping malls.

Keenon, for instance, has expanded its services and products to 60 markets across the world, including North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In Japan, its market growth reached 240 percent year-on-year last year.

Li Tong, founder and CEO of Keenon, attributed the momentum of Chinese robotics companies abroad to opportunities amid COVID-19-related disruptions, when delivery robots greatly eased manpower shortages and reduced human-to-human contact for safety. "At that time, we quickly decided to pitch our business to foreign markets, and it's turned out well," he said.

Founded in 2010, Keenon leverages its fully autonomous positioning and navigation technology to offer robots both at home and abroad. Its product range includes server, disinfection and delivery robots. Embedded with leading technologies in lidar, machine vision, depth vision and sonar, such robots can work efficiently in complex environments.

Such momentum is critical as various players have beefed up efforts in the delivery robot sector. Uber Eats, the food delivery service of ride-hailing company Uber Technologies, announced last month a partnership with Coco Robotics to expand autonomous sidewalk delivery in Los Angeles.

Prior, the company began using self-driving robots for deliveries in Tokyo. Once an order is placed on the Uber Eats app, the robot will head to the store to pick it up before delivering it to the address specified by the customer, who will then use a key in the app to receive the order.

In China, companies like Pudu Technology and Keenon Robotics are key players, providing robots that deliver food, packages and other items efficiently in various controlled environments. Major companies such as JD, Meituan and Alibaba have been investing heavily in autonomous delivery vehicles for use in logistics and e-commerce. These robots are piloted in specific urban areas, often in collaboration with local governments.

China has been the world's largest industrial robot market for 11 consecutive years to 2023. China's industrial robot market sales increased from 70,000 units in 2015 to 316,000 units in 2023, accounting for 53.6 percent of the total global sales in 2023, according to statistics released at a news briefing at the World Robot Conference in August.

Li said: "In the field of industrial robots like delivery robots, Chinese companies have already turned from followers to leaders and stand at the forefront with their counterparts in the US, be it in terms of technologies or applications. They have accumulated huge experience in China, and therefore are better at adapting to different application scenarios abroad.

"We believe that the autonomous revolution led by intelligent robotics will lead to a new revolution both at home and abroad by helping remove tedious, labor-intensive and challenging tasks."