One of China's largest exhibitions for home appliances and consumer electronics attracted more than 1,200 companies to showcase tens of thousands of cutting-edge technologies and smart lifestyle solutions in Shanghai at the weekend.

This year, the Appliance & Electronics World Expo (AWE) was held over two venues for the first time since its inception in 1992, with a combined exhibition space reaches 170,000 square meters. The venues were a 140,000-sq-m exhibition area at Shanghai New International Expo Centre and a newly launched 30,000-sq-m space at Shanghai Eastern Hub International Business Cooperation Zone.

Numbers of visitors at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre were projected to increase by more than 30 percent compared with last year, according to preliminary statistics collected by the event's organizers.

A special committee on household service robots overseen by the China Household Electrical Appliances Association took place on the sidelines of this year's AWE in what was a new initiative by enterprises involved in the industry chain.??

"The committee is set to address common challenges facing the industry, including repetitive data collection, inconsistent technological pathways and a lack of standards," said Wan Chunhui, deputy secretary-general of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association.?

According to Wan, the committee has more than 50 founding members, covering the entire household robotics industry chain, including home appliances, embodied intelligence, companion robots, AI models, AI motion control, chips, new materials and batteries.?

Zhang Chonghe, president of the China National Light Industry Council, said China has become the world's largest robot market, producing 55 percent of the world's robots.?

"Up to 18.58 million units of service robots were produced in 2025, surging 16.1 percent year-on-year," Zhang said.

"Robots for specific scenarios, such as elderly care, cleaning, and companionship, are experiencing rapid growth."