On Jan. 9 (local time), the world's largest IT exhibition, 'CES 2025', was held at the Venetian Expo Eureka Park in Las Vegas, USA. At the booth of the Chinese startup 'Hypershell', I felt a sudden lightness in my legs as I took a step while wearing an artificial intelligence (AI)-based exoskeleton device for outdoor activities. Each time I placed my foot forward, the device wrapped around my waist and legs naturally lifted my legs. The fit felt somewhat awkward, as if I were wearing a large belt, but with nine robotic joints providing power in line with my movements, the 2 kg equipment didn't feel heavy. When I set the power level to maximum and climbed the stairs, it felt as if someone was pushing me from behind. Normally, I feel winded after climbing just ten steps, but that day I hopped up more than thirty steps without feeling tired at all.
This product received the Best Innovation Award in the robotics institutional sector at CES 2025. It collects real-time motion data through 14 sensors attached to the device, and the AI motion engine and algorithms analyze this data to assist the user's movement with a maximum power of 1 horsepower for up to 25 km.
Valencia Fan, Hypershell's marketing director, said, "The main target customer base consists of those who enjoy hiking and outdoor activities. We have received significant funding not just in China but also in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Korea, where hiking is popular." Fan noted, "I personally wear it while hiking, as it makes it easy to reach the summit." Founded four years ago, Hypershell secured a total of 9.6 million Hong Kong dollars (approximately 1.8 billion won) from about 2,640 donors last year to complete commercial products. After showcasing the product to global visitors at CES 2025, they plan to start global shipping on the 20th.
Chinese robots also demonstrated competitiveness in water. The award-winning robots from the Chinese company 'Wybotics' roamed around underwater at the exhibition. The world's first solar-powered wireless underwater robot was designed to clean places like swimming pools. Since radio signals are weak underwater, making Bluetooth or wireless remote control difficult, this robot designs the optimal cleaning path without cables using high-resolution cameras and 3D mapping technology. Once cleaning is complete, the robot automatically returns to the docking station to transfer the collected debris to an internal storage unit and self-cleans its interior. Cheng Li, an engineer at Wybotics, stated, "Our experience over the past 20 years in developing pool cleaning robots has led to our advanced 3D mapping technology, which is our key differentiator," adding, "Our products are installed not only in Western countries like the U.S. and Australia but also in Korean swimming pools."
Chinese corporation Roborock, the world's top manufacturer of robotic vacuum cleaners, unveiled a vacuum cleaner equipped with a five-axis foldable robotic arm at CES 2025. For the first time in the industry, the robotic arm is attached to the main body of the robotic vacuum, allowing it to lift and move lightweight items under 300 grams, such as socks. The vacuum first detects items it can lift during the initial cleaning, and after the robotic arm removes the item, it cleans the remaining area again. Precision sensors and cameras, as well as light-emitting diode (LED) lights, detect the location of objects, the surrounding environment, and the weight of the lifted object. A Roborock representative explained, "We have developed the navigation system to accurately identify obstacles and smoothly avoid wires."
A Chinese modular robot specialized in outdoor environment management, like snow removal, lawn mowing, and leaf cleaning, also received an innovation award this time. Shenzhen Hanyang Technology identified the limitation of most work robots performing single functions and designed their product to allow various tasks by simply swapping modules on one robot body. The flexible modular system, which is not available in the existing market, received favorable evaluations. This robot uses real-time synchronized GPS (Global Positioning System) and lidar to accurately track its position in complex terrain and avoid obstacles. It also collects real-time weather data, automatically activating the snow removal module if it snows and temporarily halting leaf cleaning during strong winds.
A representative of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which organizes CES, noted, "Chinese robotic corporations showcased various products not only in the robotics institutional sector but also in industrial equipment and machinery sectors and embedded technology sector, receiving the most innovation awards in robotics according to national standards."