From "Laboratory" to "Living Space": Beijing Yizhuang Creates the World's First Smart Health and Elderly Care Robot-based Senior Care Station
The guiding robot is warm and hospitable, greeting guests and answering questions. The massage robot applies just the right amount of pressure, providing physiotherapy services comparable to those of professional technicians. In the age-friendly model room, the intelligent monitoring system provides round-the-clock protection, strengthening the safety defense line for home-based elderly care... On March 12, the launch event of the world's first smart health and elderly care robot pension station - the Smart Health and Elderly Care Robot Pension Station in Ronghua Street, Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area (hereinafter referred to as the "pension station") - was successfully held. The "Public Model Room for Home Age-Friendly Renovation in Beijing" was also awarded the title simultaneously, marking a pioneering step in the integrated development of "technology + elderly care" in Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area (referred to as Beijing ETDZ or Beijing Yizhuang), and creating a replicable and promotable new benchmark for the construction of the national smart elderly care service system.
Multi-dimensional Experience Unlocks Smart Life in All-age Scenarios
The pension station is located in Tianhuayuan Yili, Ronghua Street, Beijing ETDZ, with a usable area of about 1,100 square meters. It is divided into four functional areas, focusing on creating three major scenarios: basic service scenarios, robot application scenarios, and age-friendly renovation scenarios. As of now, more than 40 robot products produced by 24 enterprises have been deployed.
On the first floor of the station, the intelligent kitchen area provides intelligent services throughout the entire process from entering the door to dining. The cooking robot precisely prepares various delicious dishes according to standards, with a stable and palatable taste. The food delivery robot shuttles flexibly between dining areas, accurately completing meal distribution. In the outer space, the "Yuanhu Pancake Robot", which has obtained the "Food Business License" for hot food catering, can standardly make delicious pancakes in 3 minutes, making the dining experience both efficient, convenient, and considerate. The second floor's childcare area is specially designed for infants and toddlers. By introducing companion robots such as the Wukong II robot, painting robot, and football robot, an interactive space that combines education with entertainment is created, enabling children to enhance their understanding of technology while having fun. The third floor integrates health care, leisure, and day care. Guided by the greeting robot, the elderly can go to different areas as needed to experience various intelligent robots. The rehabilitation and physiotherapy area can be regarded as the "health paradise" for the elderly, meeting the needs of rehabilitation training and health detection. The massage robot provides comfortable massages for multiple parts of the body. The moxibustion robot intelligently locates acupoints for moxibustion and controls the temperature to prevent burns. The health detection equipment can quickly complete the detection of multiple indicators, and the exoskeleton robot helps the elderly conduct precise and scientific rehabilitation training. In their leisure time, the elderly can enter the "Smart Chess Room" to play chess with the chess-playing robot and enjoy the "one-button" tea art of the tea-making robot, making the health care time more enjoyable.
Contactless meal collection in the intelligent kitchen area
Yuanhu Pancake Robot
Childcare area
The intelligent physiotherapy robot in the rehabilitation and physiotherapy area provides physiotherapy for the elderly
The reporter noticed that the age-friendly model room on the fourth floor has been successfully approved as the "Public Model Room for Home Age-Friendly Renovation in Beijing". The indoor usable area of this model room is about 60 square meters, and an outdoor leisure area of about 200 square meters is also constructed. The space layout takes into account both practicality and experience. The model room is not only equipped with cutting-edge intelligent products such as intelligent wheelchairs and companion robots but also meticulously crafted in details such as barrier-free design, anti-slip floor treatment, and the installation of intelligent monitoring equipment, fully meeting the living needs of the elderly. At the same time, the model room creates a cutting-edge service experience area for robot scenario applications, bringing an immersive robot scenario experience to the elderly and community residents. Relying on the whole-house intelligent system and health detection system, combined with the actual application of smart health and elderly care robots, the model room realizes the in-depth integration of technology and elderly care. In the outdoor leisure area, a fun experience area for robot dog obstacle races is specially set up, allowing the elderly to immerse themselves in the novel fun of operating robot dogs. "I used to think robots were far away from us. Today, I tried the moxibustion robot, and I feel much lighter. And this intelligent settlement counter has clear voice prompts. It's very convenient for us elderly people!" Aunt Zhang, a 72-year-old community resident, praised while experiencing. Uncle Wang, a community resident, sighed after experiencing the age-friendly model room: "The intelligent monitoring equipment makes us elderly people feel more secure in home-based elderly care. This is truly technology that warms the hearts of the people."
According to Zhang Wendong, the person in charge of the pension station, under the guidance of the Social Work Department and the Bureau of Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing Industry of Beijing ETDZ, the station is constructed by Ronghua Street and operated by a professional institution. It can provide services for tens of thousands of residents in the jurisdiction of Ronghua Street, with an estimated daily reception capacity of more than 300 people. "Currently, we have established a long-term operation mechanism of 'government guidance + enterprise participation + resident supervision'. We will continuously iterate robot products according to residents' needs, regularly hold interactive activities, and listen to suggestions through channels such as community groups and suggestion boxes to ensure that the services are precise and inclusive."
Technology Builds a Nest, Scenarios Drive to Create a New Livelihood Model
The pension station focusing on the service needs of the "elderly and children" is by no means a simple physical superposition of "robots + elderly care" but a systematic reshaping of the entire scenario and the whole chain. It not only creates an innovative elderly care model integrating services, experiments, data collection, and information feedback but also provides an immersive experience of robot scenarios for community residents.
How did Beijing ETDZ bring robots from the "laboratory" to the "real-life scenario"?
"The answer lies in the construction of a closed-loop system covering the whole chain from 'policy guidance - scenario drive - technology verification - application implementation - industrial upgrading'. We focus on the core needs of robots moving from the laboratory to real life and implement a combination of measures, including precise policy support at the top level, opening up of all-round scenarios, building a foundation for the entire industrial chain, and collaborative cultivation of the industrial ecosystem. We have introduced the "Ten Measures for Embodied Intelligence" special policy, providing real financial support for the purchase and sales of robot products and the opening up of application scenarios. We have implemented the Embodied Intelligence Social Experiment Plan, opening up landmark scenarios such as high-end manufacturing, medical and health care, and hotels and supermarkets across the region. We have built the world's first 4S store for embodied intelligent robots, which has also provided an overall solution for this pension station. Leveraging the advantages of industrial agglomeration, relying on superior resources such as the National Rehabilitation Auxiliary Appliance Center, Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, BOE, and JD.com, we systematically layout key technology research and development and industrial application of elderly care robots. We have created the Robofuture event system, successfully hosting the world's first half-marathon for humanoid robots and initiating a city-level technology testing and verification platform for humanoid robots. We have also held a series of events such as the First Beijing Smart Health and Elderly Care Robot Application Competition and the "Challenge and Appointment" Application Competition for Smart Hotel Robots based on demand, promoting learning and production through competitions, turning the "competition field" into an "application field" and making scenarios such as pension stations, communities, and factories the "training ground" and "value realization field" for robot technology," said the relevant person in charge of Beijing ETDZ.
In the application practice of the elderly care scenario, Beijing ETDZ uses this system to continuously improve the level of intelligent services. "We adhere to planning guidance and have compiled the first special plan for elderly care services in the whole region. We have densified the service network, breaking the household registration limit to achieve inclusive and shared meal assistance services. We have innovated the supply model, creating an integrated model of 'pension station + inclusive childcare'. We have deeply explored technology empowerment and built a pilot demonstration scenario for smart elderly care in the whole region," said the person in charge. The completion of this station is a key practice in promoting the in-depth integration of "technology + elderly care", enabling hard-core technology to contain soft care and realizing a warm leap of technological innovation from the "laboratory" to the "real-life scenario".
Two-way Empowerment of Industry and Livelihood to Achieve Collaborative Development
At the end of last year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Promoting Scientific and Technological Innovation in Civil Affairs", clearly proposing to "strengthen scientific and technological support in the field of aging and elderly care services" and promoting the in-depth integration of elderly care service technology and equipment with various scenarios. According to the person in charge of the Bureau of Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing Industry of Beijing ETDZ, the robot products in the station are strictly selected according to the three principles of "demand orientation, safety and practicality, and scientific adaptation", and a 4S store for robots in the elderly care field integrating "exhibition, sales, research, and use" is built. On the one hand, it provides a real application scenario for robot enterprises. Enterprises can optimize product design based on the feedback from the elderly, such as adjusting the massage intensity and acupoint positioning of the rehabilitation robot according to the usage data. On the other hand, as a display window, the station fully demonstrates the application value of robot technology in the field of people's livelihood, attracting more enterprises to engage in the smart elderly care track.
Intelligent physiotherapy robot
Beijing Vision Quest Artificial Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd., an enterprise in the area, provided two core products, intelligent companionship and physiotherapy, for the pension station. The former enriches the entertainment and social life of the elderly and alleviates their loneliness, while the latter meets diverse physiotherapy needs with AI recognition and multi-modal systems. Xia Jing, the person in charge of the company, said: "The pension station is a natural 'user experience laboratory' that allows us to face the real needs, usage habits, and feedback of customers directly and accelerate product iteration. Moreover, once the verification in the station is successful, this model of 'intelligent equipment + community service' can be quickly replicated to thousands of community elderly care stations across the country, forming large-scale social value." Xinggong Jujiang (Beijing) Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., another company in Beijing ETDZ, provided products such as food delivery robots, cleaning robots, and electric wheelchair assistance systems for the station. "This cooperation has completed the 'last mile' closed-loop verification of the products from the laboratory to complex real scenarios. It provides an irreplaceable cognitive foundation for us to precisely define product standards and establish scenario-based solutions," said Huo Huayu, the person in charge of the company. He told the reporter that in the future, they will continue to optimize the adaptability of the robot platform and build an open robot ecosystem. At the same time, they will develop customized products for the rigid needs of the "elderly and children" and create a matrix of service robots.
The launch and operation of the pension station are an important exploration by Beijing ETDZ in improving people's well - being. The relevant person in charge of Beijing ETDZ said that in the future, taking this station as a pilot, more smart elderly care application scenarios will be continuously created across Beijing ETDZ to promote the in - depth application of robot technology in the field of elderly care. At the same time, the replicable and promotable "Yizhuang Plan" will be summarized and promoted to the whole city and even the whole country, allowing the sunshine of technology to illuminate the happy old age of more elderly people and paint a beautiful picture of "the elderly are well - cared for and the young are well - nurtured".