Recently, Dina Ottmani— an overseas vlogger who focuses on exploring Chinese robotics — visited Hefei to tour smart‑manufacturing companies such as Hefei Zerith Robotics Co., Ltd. (hereafter "Zerith"). She was left exclaiming that Hefei's robotics industry is truly "stunning."

"Look — a robot is wiping the table!" At Zerith, Dina, who is from Morocco, raised her phone and filmed the Zerith‑H1 doing household chores, her face lighting up with excitement.

As a content creator focused on Chinese robots, Dina has a combined following of four million across Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and other overseas platforms. Her travels have taken her across China — from established robotics firms to emerging tech startups — and she documents the country's robotic advances on camera. One day she spotted Zerith's Zerith‑H1 online and exclaimed, "It can do housework — this is exactly what I've been looking for!" She immediately reached out to the company.

After nearly a five‑hour high‑speed train ride from Beijing to Hefei, Dina entered Zerith and saw simulated environments — a restroom, a retail supermarket setup — and rows of eager robots. She felt reassured: the months‑long "wonder trip" she had planned had truly begun.

The robots detect trash on the table and pick it up one by one, deposit it in the bin; they hold cloths to precisely wipe stains; they pick up toilet brushes to clean toilets... Seeing this in person after watching videos online, Dina was amazed: "They're so advanced — they can do chores on their own!" She eagerly filmed herself alongside the working robots, smoothly switching into vlogger mode to narrate her impressions in a foreign language.

Not confined to the lab, while Dina was filming, Zerith‑H1 units were also deployed in real commercial settings — at MixC mall, Hefei Xinqiao International Airport and elsewhere — acting as "store clerks" and "cleaners," carrying out public‑space cleaning and item pickup in genuine, operational scenarios.

Staff explained that Zerith‑H1 is equipped with a pair of "wise eyes" — a 3D multimodal perception system. With this system, the robot can not only locate toilets and sinks but also assess the severity of surface stains, just like an experienced cleaner handling sanitation tasks. Its 1.8‑meter robotic arm enables fine‑grained manipulation.

Most importantly is the robot's "smart brain." Zerith‑H1 relies on a specialized scene model, Zerith‑V0, which endows it with decision‑making capabilities and allows it to autonomously plan the full workflow — from spotting a stain to spraying, wiping, and stowing away tools.

"We hope intelligent robots can truly enter household settings and serve families," said Wang Bowen, Brand Director of Hefei Zerith Robotics. He described Zerith's practical plan: first let robots collect real‑world data from commercial deployments to feed back into their AI training, then gradually move into more delicate and complex home environments to become genuine "household helpers."

"At first I only saw robots running and dancing — I didn't expect them to actually help humans with housework. This is the first time I've seen that. It truly shocked me!" Dina said.

As her Hefei trip concluded, Dina was already looking forward to returning: "Hefei, I will definitely come back — for sure! I want to watch these robots grow step by step."

Source: Jianghuai Morning Post