One in five robotic vacuum cleaners scouring homes around the world is made by the Chinese corporation Ecovacs. Founded in 1998 as a home appliance original equipment manufacturer (OEM), Ecovacs has built its technological capabilities in the robotic vacuum cleaner sector, surpassing No. 1 in the Chinese market to become a global sales leader. However, it was not always like this. In its early days, Ecovacs gained recognition not as a brand with technological power but as a simple subcontractor.
The turning point for the company came in 2000, when founder Chen Dongqi saw a newspaper article about 'robot soccer.' He envisioned the possibility of a small robot navigating on its own around the field, guiding the ball to the goal, and thought of a robot that could autonomously move around the home to remove dust. He jumped into the development of the then-unknown robotic vacuum cleaner and launched China's first product that combined a vacuum cleaner and a robot in 2001.
The key to Ecovacs breaking free from the OEM shadow and leaping forward as its own robotic vacuum cleaner brand is 'in-house core component production.' By developing and manufacturing essential components like motors, batteries, reducers, and joints directly, the company was able to break away from external supply chain risks and secure control over development speed and quality. This strategy naturally transformed the company's focus toward research and development (R&D). The technical capabilities in components have become the foundation for expanding its territory into various service robots such as underwater cleaning robots and lawn mowing robots, beyond just home robotic vacuum cleaners. Currently operating in 170 countries, Ecovacs invested over 170 billion won in R&D, which is 5.3% of last year's revenue (approximately 3.2 trillion won). The company holds over 2,400 patents.
Following in the footsteps of his father, founder David Chen, in his 30s, is currently leading the company. He joined the Ecovacs Group 13 years ago and has held key positions overseeing e-commerce and the international institutional sector. CEO Chen will give a keynote speech on the topic of innovation in household robots at the SMARTCLOUD SHOW 2025, the largest tech conference in Korea, to be held on the 27th at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul.
Ahead of his lecture, he noted in a written interview with ChosunBiz, "Household robots are evolving from mere cleaning machines into 'partners' that can share emotions with humans," and added, "Ecovacs plans to showcase the direction of core technologies, such as practical usage data accumulated over 27 years, AIVI 3D recognition technology, and conversational AI at the conference." This will be his first interview with the domestic media. Below is a Q&A.
—Where do you see the revolution in household robots originating from?
"The revolution will begin not with a universal humanoid robot that solves everything in a short time, but with robots optimized for the diverse 'scenarios' of each household. The real innovation lies in redefining the relationship between robots and humans from 'tools' to 'partners.' The moment a robot goes beyond being a tool that merely executes commands to understanding human intentions and contexts, and interacts naturally, that marks the turning point of innovation."
—What are the technical conditions necessary to cross that turning point?
"We need to enable 'organic autonomous judgment' that goes beyond fragmented advancements of individual robot functions. For this, breakthroughs simultaneously across five technological pillars—sensing, decision-making, interaction, motion control, and systems integration—are essential. Ecovacs is implementing these technologies on a single platform that integrates software and hardware. We have developed our own capabilities to go beyond voice assistants to deep learning AI models and collaborative systems that control multiple robots. Recently, we have reached a level where we can accurately understand and execute ambiguous and complex natural language commands from users through our own large language model (LLM). Integrating and consolidating these capabilities is key to making robots true partners."
—What do you prioritize in the robot product development stage?
"We deliberately steer clear of spec competition. Our goal is to create robots that can autonomously judge, adapt flexibly, and communicate, organically combining technologies like cleaning, navigation, and AI. Instead of getting lost in spec competition, we set the standard as whether we can practically increase convenience and efficiency in real life. Our vision of 'Robotics for All' comes from this. No matter how impressive the specs, it means nothing if users cannot perceive their value in daily life."
We have established a supply chain ecosystem capable of directly developing and producing core robot components such as motors, injection molding, circuits, batteries, and joints. This goes beyond simply ensuring stable component supply; it is the core driving force for rapidly and flexibly commercializing the various robot scenarios we envision for the future."
—As robots become smarter, concerns about user data security are increasing. Robotic vacuum cleaner hacking incidents have also been problematic several times.
"Building technology competitiveness based on trust is more important than ever. Because robots operate in the most private spaces, they cannot lead the market without the trust of users. In this regard, Ecovacs has obtained the highest level of global security certification (UL Solutions Diamond), which requires meeting strict standards such as malware detection, blocking unauthorized access, and data anonymization. Moving forward, we will continue to develop products while adhering to principles of trust and safety, in addition to convenience."
—What significance does the Korean market hold?
"Korean consumers have a strong technology-oriented consumption culture and high interest in high-end home appliances with new technologies applied. The rapidly changing lifestyle and the high acceptance of smart home technologies also provide an ideal environment to implement and validate our technological innovation capabilities. In that sense, Korea is more than just a market for us; it serves as a 'strategic testbed' to gauge global success. The reason we are expanding our nationwide A/S network and designing the overall user experience goes beyond simply selling products."