When a newborn stirred in the night, a sensor clipped to the edge of the diaper quietly went to work, sniffing, sensing and logging data.
Within minutes, the caregiver's wristband buzzed and received the latest information about the baby, including the need to change the diaper and the infant's upset stomach.
This gadget, jointly developed by a domestic service company in east China's Anhui Province and an artificial intelligence firm, combines humidity detection with highly sensitive odor sensors.
"It tracks infants' digestive patterns and uploads the data to a digital platform, where it is paired with feeding records kept by caregivers," said Ding Youmei, president of the Anhui-based Wansao, the domestic service company. "The result is a personalized health profile that helps nannies and parents monitor babies more precisely."
The company hopes the technology may eventually serve another demographic, frail elderly people who require constant care.
Such experiments illustrate the growing use of artificial intelligence in the vast but traditionally labor-intensive domestic service industry.
In China, where the domestic service sector already employed more than 30 million people and generated a market value of over 1.2 trillion yuan (about 173.43 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024, the arrival of algorithms is expected to reshape how households find help and how such help is delivered.
"Drawing on years of industry data, we have begun building digital platforms powered by large language models and private knowledge bases," Ding told Xinhua. "Besides answering questions for families and caregivers alike, they can also generate detailed digital profiles of domestic workers, allowing platforms to match clients with suitable candidates from databases containing tens of thousands of service providers."
Robots are entering the scene as well. In nursing homes and private households across several Chinese cities, a companion robot known as Xiaoli monitors blood pressure and oxygen levels, alerts relatives when unusual situations are detected, and offers conversation to lonely residents.
"Focusing on seniors' needs for safety, health monitoring and companionship, we have developed two versions of the robot, one for eldercare institutions and another for home-based care, and will continue to upgrade its service capabilities," said Li Yang with Beijing-based Seelink Technology Co., Ltd., Xiaoli's developer.
More ambitious experiments are underway. Engineers at Zerith, a Hefei-based robotics firm, have trained a wheeled humanoid robot in a mock apartment: with the robot taught to wipe tables, fold laundry and vacuum across tiled floors.
Designed with a wheeled chassis, this robot is for now deployed mainly in hotels, airports and shopping centers, controlled environments where repetitive tasks provide useful training data.
"But we see domestic life as the ultimate proving ground," said Yang Wei, chief branding officer of the company.
This trend in the tech-powered domestic service industry is being nudged by increasing demand and policy support.
Demographics are reshaping demand in China. By the end of 2024, China had more than 310 million people aged 60 or above, roughly 22 percent of the population. As households grow smaller, the need for childcare and eldercare service has surged.
China's eldercare robot market exceeded 30 billion yuan in 2024 and was expected to reach 50 billion yuan in 2025, according to a report released by Zero Power Intelligence Group, an industry research company in China.
"Only a handful of companies were developing intelligent companion robots for eldercare a few years ago," said Li. "Now the number of entrants is rising rapidly, and the industry is becoming increasingly vibrant."
Policy support is another propeller. The government encourages digital transformation of the domestic service sector, promoting the use of big data, AI and robotics to improve efficiency and expand service offerings.
In April 2025, China's Ministry of Commerce, together with eight other government departments, issued a policy document to support the upgrading of household service consumption.
The departments called for accelerating the digital transformation of the sector, including the use of big data and AI to build user profiles and deliver more targeted services, as well as leveraging emerging technologies such as robotics to expand application scenarios in household service.
"We have begun experimenting with digital platforms and pilot programs that link tech firms with domestic service providers," said Hu Jing, an official with Hefei's bureau of commerce.
Yet the promise of an AI-powered household still collides with practical limits, industry insiders have noted. Robots remain expensive, with a companion model like Xiaoli still costing around 10,000 yuan or more.
Also, many machines perform only simple tasks, while complex household environments require far more sophisticated perception and dexterity. Data is another sticking point. Domestic work involves highly sensitive personal information, and the lack of unified industry standards complicates the sharing and processing of such data.
"But its trajectory is clear and controllable," said Yang. "Machines will likely evolve from specialized assistants in commercial settings into reliable household companions. If that happens, the ancient profession of housekeeping may soon acquire a distinctly digital partner."