CHENGDU, April 17 (Xinhua) — Stand nonetheless for simply 30 seconds with no bodily contact, and a brand new clever healthcare robot can measure coronary heart fee, blood strain and physique temperature. It may even determine 13 distinct emotional states, from happiness and tiredness to anxiousness.
This isn’t any science fiction. It is the real-world efficiency of “Kangbao” (Health Baby), a companion healthcare robot set to start trials in Chengdu, the capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
Developed by a analysis crew on the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), Kangbao is a companion healthcare robot constructed on a information hypergraph autonomous decision-making structure.
The robot made its official debut on the National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Next-Generation Internet Data Processing Technology of the UESTC in Chengdu, and is prepared to be piloted in healthcare situations.
NON-CONTACT HEALTH CHECKS WITH EMOTIONAL AI
Standing 1.2 meters tall, Kangbao has a spherical head and a sq. physique, with three contact buttons: “Register,” “Start Detection” and “View Results.”
Using infrared sensing and microvascular vibration evaluation, the robot can full multi-parameter physiological checks in seconds. All knowledge collected is processed domestically by way of on-device inference, with no cloud uploads required, totally defending person privateness.
Tian Ling, director of the laboratory, mentioned that after quite a few algorithm iterations and knowledge validation, Kangbao has achieved physiological measurement accuracy of over 97 % and emotion recognition accuracy of greater than 92 %, each industry-leading ranges.
“The value of scientific research lies in stepping out of the lab to truly serve society and improve people’s lives,” Tian mentioned.
With assist and matchmaking from native authorities, a number of elderly care services in the realm have opened up software situations for Kangbao, permitting the robot to quickly start real-world testing with elderly customers.
One robot can monitor a complete flooring of a care middle, whereas additionally recording residents’ medical histories and medicine data to generate digital well being information and difficulty proactive alerts for potential well being dangers, in accordance to Tian.
SICHUAN’S BOOMING ROBOTICS INDUSTRY
Kangbao is just not an remoted case. Another Chengdu-developed good healthcare companion robot, “Anzai (Safety Buddy),” has not too long ago joined a pioneering “try-before-you-buy” program, beneath which customers can take a look at the product earlier than buy.
Developed by Zhongke Yuanma Service Robot Research Institute, Anzai integrates multi-sensor expertise to allow multimodal human-robot interplay, masking capabilities similar to well being monitoring, emotional companionship and clever alerts.
The rise of those “Chengdu-made” healthcare robots is backed by the area’s fast-expanding robotics {industry}. Sichuan has constructed a complete robotics industrial cluster centered in Chengdu, encompassing industrial, service and specialty robotics.
Under the province’s robotics {industry} motion plan, its important enterprise income is focused to exceed 50 billion yuan (about 7.29 billion U.S. {dollars}) by 2025. In 2024, the core AI and robotics {industry} in Chengdu surpassed 100 billion yuan in scale, rising roughly 39 % year-on-year and involving over 1,000 enterprises.
The metropolis has additionally set an bold goal: increasing its embodied intelligence {industry} to 50 billion yuan by 2027. Last yr, the Sichuan provincial authorities launched a three-year motion plan (2025-2027) to enhance rising and future industries, naming robotics as considered one of 23 key sectors for breakthrough improvement.
A “Robotics+” software state of affairs marketing campaign has additionally been launched to speed up the large-scale deployment of robots in healthcare and elderly care companies.
China’s elderly care robot market is gaining momentum. The market measurement reached roughly 9.1 billion yuan in 2025 and is projected to hit 10.4 billion yuan in 2026.
In January, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued tips calling for the vast use of humanoid robots, brain-computer interfaces and AI in elderly care, selling the built-in and scaled software of merchandise for emotional companionship, monitoring and early warning. The doc additionally helps native governments in growing industrial clusters for good elderly-care service robots.
Beyond growing Kangbao, Tian’s crew is collaborating with establishments like West China Hospital of Sichuan University in good senior care. They are advancing intervention analysis on circumstances together with gentle cognitive impairment, temper issues and Alzheimer’s illness, and plan to develop transportable well being monitoring gadgets.
“Our ultimate goal is to turn cutting-edge AI technologies into products that ordinary people can see and use,” mentioned Tian. ■