Wuxi startup wins maker competition

Wang Jian, CEO of Wuxi Zhiban IoT Company, introduces their robot companion for children aged 2 to 12 during the road show at the final of the South Jiangsu Global Maker Competition held in Wuxi on Dec 12. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Wuxi-based Zhiban IoT Company won the first prize together with other two startups at the final of the South Jiangsu Global Maker Competition held in Wuxi on Dec 12.

The company's product is a robot used to accompany children. When asked why they decided to make the product, Wang Jian, founder and CEO of Zhiban, said, "actually many parents do not know how to educate their kids or what they can do with them and our research results also support our idea."

The robot can have a simple talk with kids or tell stories to them based on its memory bank from an encyclopedia, ancient Chinese poems, fairy tale stories, and various other materials. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The robot acts as a role of an intelligent close friend designed for children aged 2-12. With memory from an encyclopedia, ancient Chinese poems, fairy tale stories, and various other materials, the robot can have a simple talk with kids or tell stories to them.

It can also be used as a voice alarm clock, a memo, a chat tool and a radio.

Once the robot was available on the market, numerous parents showed great interest in it although there is still doubt whether the quality time between children and parent can be replaced by a machine.

As for the doubt, Wang Wei explained that according to their users' feedback, the robot makes parent-child relations closer than before because with the help of the robot's powerful functions, the parents feel more comfortable to play with their kids and they are more willing to spend time with them.

In picturing their future development, the founder said that they will continue to secure their present markets and then expand their target consumers to autism sufferers and senior citizens.

Wuxi Zhiban IoT Company, founded in 2016, consists of researchers from China and the US dedicated to developing, producing and selling intelligent robots. It hopes to take a leading role in Chinese high-tech electronic products.

The detailed design of the robot [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]