By 2026, leading household appliance behemoths, including Haier, Midea, and Gree, along with other industry players such as Hisense, TCL, Ecovacs, and Fotile, are poised to make significant strides in the realm of embodied AI. Haier, with a keen eye on domestic applications, is set to introduce three distinct categories of home service robots tailored for household chores, cleaning tasks, and companionship. Midea, on the other hand, is pursuing a dual-pronged strategy that targets both 'industrial and domestic' markets, with plans to roll out ultra-humanoid robots. Notably, its domestic robot series is already in the testing phase. Gree, emphasizing a full-spectrum self-research and independent component production approach, has already deployed over 2,000 industrial robots, resulting in an impressive 80% surge in production efficiency. Nevertheless, household appliance companies venturing into the embodied AI landscape still grapple with technological hurdles and cost constraints. It will be some time before these innovative products transition from their initial unveiling to widespread consumer adoption.
