In February of this year, an embodied robot and intelligent rehabilitation product training and verification center for the elderly care sector was launched in Qingdao.

Leveraging professional medical rehabilitation facilities and real-life service settings, the center creates a full-chain closed loop encompassing training and testing, functional verification, data sharing, standard setting, and market promotion. The system enables embodied robots and smart products to master the skills needed for elderly care, accelerating their adaptation to real social needs and their integration into daily life.

Unlike industrial robots that operate in fixed positions, elderly care robots must function in open, unpredictable home and nursing home environments. "Without tens of thousands of training cycles, they can't develop that subtle judgment," said a center staff member.

China's aging population — with 320 million people aged 60 or above by the end of 2025 — has made care robots a key track in the silver economy. Yet a gap remains between lab technology and real-world needs.

To bridge this, Qingdao built the nation's first public training and verification platform focused on real-world applications. The 9,600-square-meter center hosts 45 companies and 210 products, covering five major care settings and offering over 10 training modules.

Currently, most robots can sing and dance but struggle with basic tasks like handing over water or reminding people to take their medication. Experts estimate it will take about five years for truly humanoid service robots to enter nursing homes.

The future, they say, is human-machine collaboration. Robots will handle repetitive physical tasks and monitoring, while human caregivers focus on emotional support.

"A care robot isn't mature just because it can move — it must serve safely," a professor noted. Qingdao is building a closed-loop system of training, data sharing, and market promotion to speed up this transformation.

Qingdao builds the nation's first public training and verification platform focused on the real-world application of robots in elderly care. [Photo/Dazhong News]