Xinhuanet, Beijing, April 16 (Reporter Wang Richen) At this year's Consumer Expo, Beijing Stone Century Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Stone Technology"), a leading company in the field of sweeping robots, appeared with a number of products. "At the 2025 CES exhibition, the Stone G30 Space Exploration Edition released by Stone Technology will push household cleaning robots to a new dimension of 'biomonics + AI model', and the development prospects of this new consumption trend are very broad." Liu Jin, vice president of Beijing Stone Century Technology Co., Ltd., said in an interview.

Stone Technology sweeping robot product display

  It is understood that the five-axis folding bionic robot equipped with the Stone G30 Space Exploration Edition allows it to achieve spiritual activities similar to human hands. It can not only perform traditional floor cleaning, but also actively identify and remove lifted obstacles, intelligently sort and store scattered items, and even independently pick up paper balls and other garbage into the trash can, expanding the cleaning range from two-dimensional ground to three-dimensional space, providing consumers with a more comprehensive and efficient cleaning solution.

  From the perspective of technological deepening, sweeping robots may use upgrades to capture and place larger objects by upgrading robotic arm hardware, and even realize functions such as assisting obstacle crossing and going up and downstairs; they can also process sensor data through AI, greatly improving the level of intelligence, such as combining flexible robotic arms to achieve safe grasping and sorting of fragile items such as glasses, monitoring the home environment, and customizing smart solutions based on cleaning habits and floor status. From the perspective of ecological improvement, multiple home service robots can be dispatched by cloud AI to carry out intelligent division of labor and collaboration, and build a smart service system with the whole family dimension through data sharing and hardware collaboration; leading industry manufacturers may launch platforms similar to ROS (robot operating system) to attract developers to develop customized functions (such as cooking assistance, green plant maintenance, pet interaction, game entertainment, etc.), and continuously meet users' personalized needs through the "hardware + service" ecological closed loop.

  Since the implementation of the old-for-new home appliance policy in 2024, various localities have taken a steadily to promote the policy of sturdy measures, and enterprise associations have responded actively and competed to make efforts. Liu Jin said that under the promotion of the old-for-new policy, Stone Technology not only seized the policy dividends, but also further consolidated its leading position in the sweeping robot market through precise market strategies and technology drives.

  Liu Chen believes that the core of the "old trade-in" policy is to lower the purchase threshold for consumers, and Stone Technology quickly transformed this policy into actual market actions. According to data from Aowei Cloud Network, from January to February 2025, the online retail sales of sweeping robots increased by 72.3% year-on-year, while the online retail sales of Stone Technology increased by as high as 107.81%. Behind this is that Stone Technology has accurately leveraged consumer demand through price subsidies and promotional activities.

  During last year's "Double Eleven" period, Stone Technology's sales in full categories on JD platform increased by 196% year-on-year. This promotional effort not only allows consumers to enjoy policy dividends, but also further releases market potential through price sensitivity. Stone Technology's strategy is very clear: use policy subsidies to reduce consumers' decision-making costs, and at the same time increase brand exposure through promotional activities, forming an explosive growth in short-term sales.

  "The confidence of Stone Technology comes from technology." Liu Jin took the Stone G30 Space Exploration Edition as an example. This product upgraded the sweeping robot from a single tool to a multi-functional intelligent assistant through bionic robotic arms and AI technology. It can not only clean the floor, but also sort and store scattered items, take out garbage independently, and even support video calls and intelligent collection. He emphasized that the significance of this technological breakthrough is that it redefines the functional boundaries of sweeping robots. "Consumers no longer just buy a cleaning tool, but a smart assistant that can solve the needs of complex family scenarios. This product not only meets the needs of consumption upgrades, but also allows Stone Technology to form a technical barrier in the high-end market."

  According to the 2024 annual report of Stone Technology, R&D expenses in 2024 were 971 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 56.93%; 1,043 R&D personnel, a year-on-year increase of 421; as of the end of 2024, the company owned 3,440 intellectual property rights. From 2016 to 2024, Stone Technology invested a total of 3.238 billion yuan in R&D. From 2016 to 2024, the proportion of the company's R&D expenses to total revenue was 21.49%, 9.50%, 3.82%, 4.59%, 5.80%, 7.55%, 7.37%, 7.15% and 8.13% respectively. Since 2018, the proportion of investment in the R&D end of Stone Technology has basically been increasing year by year.

  "If you want to lead the entire track by one version, you need strong manpower, material resources and financial resources to support it. Shitou will take the current achievements as a new starting point and make every effort to continue to create high-tech innovative products that satisfy consumers, providing users with a more quality life experience." Liu Jin said.

[Editor in charge: Li Lin]