Country Garden Services Holdings Co. Ltd. has started mass-producing cleaning robots for residential buildings, deploying 130 units across major Chinese cities as it seeks to automate property management and slash labor costs, reports Caixin. The robots, dubbed “Resident No. 0,” are designed to clean the floors of common areas in apartment buildings, capable of navigating elevators and avoiding obstacles before automatically returning to a docking station to recharge, the company said at a business event on Oct. 21.
As of Oct. 20, 130 of these robots were operational in cities including Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai. The Hong Kong-listed property manager plans to produce 1,000 units by the end of 2025.
The move comes as China’s property management industry grapples with intense pressure to cut fees. With labor typically accounting for over 70% of their expenses, companies are increasingly turning to automation to boost efficiency and rein in costs, making robots a key focus for future development.