ROPET, which targets women aged 25 to 40, is a representative example.
The robot developed by Meng Yu Smart Tech Company in Beijing is an AI pet with light gray hair and cute big eyes that is small enough to be placed on the palm of its hand. Although the robot cannot move, it has a camera on its nose and can identify and react to people, food, and animals. It can also draw attention by making a cute sound while looking at the owner who is busy working.
Loppet’s father, founder of Meng Yu-Soo Meng Smart Tech, introduced the official launch on an overseas crowdfunding site in January. According to his explanation, 1,400 units were sold in Europe and the United States, and 8,000 units were sold in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It will be officially released in the mainland next year.
With the rapid growth of the AI pet market, there has also been a trend of segmentation. At AlphaDog experience store located in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, children are flocking around robot dogs. These robot dogs are not just toys but Baby Alpha, an AI dog for households targeting children aged 0-12.
Baby Alpha is equipped with a multimodal foundation model developed by its own research and development, so the response speed is less than 0.5 seconds and the accuracy of intention recognition reaches 97.8%. It can respond to ‘skins’ and communicate fluently in Chinese and English. You can even become a ‘cameraman’ and record warm moments from your family and patrol everywhere in your home.
The price range of Baby Alpha was formed similar to that of smartphones thanks to China’s strong supply chain advantage. It is said that it is currently making good sales on Chinese e-commerce platforms. Meanwhile, AI pets are expected to meet the diversified demands of various customer bases. Among them, a robot guide dog for the visually impaired developed by a research team at Shenyang Institute of Technology in Liaoning Province is attracting attention from all walks of life.
Dr. Yang Wei, a key researcher of the research team, explained that the blind robot guide dog was based on Wesu Tech’s robot dog “Go2,” adding that it succeeded in applying the blind guide function after the second development. He added that the robot guide dog not only lets the owner know by voice to avoid obstacles, but also helps the owner match the color of his clothes and can talk to the owner.
Zhang Wechu, a professor at Shenyang Institute of Technology, pointed out that there are nearly 20 million blind people in China, but only 400 guide dogs. “Robot guide dogs will bring convenience to the lives of more blind people by solving difficulties and providing emotional communication when going out,” he predicted.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
