Pool cleaning robots make global splash

With technological breakthroughs, Chinese companies are driving structural changes in the pool cleaning robot sector.

According to a recent report jointly released by global market consultancy IDC, the global shipment of pool cleaning robots is expected to hit 3.97 million units by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of over 20 percent.

The market pattern dominated by foreign companies five years ago is gradually being rewritten by domestic manufacturers. On the cross-border export side, a group of Chinese enterprises with self-developed capabilities have transformed from simple production execution roles to technology solution exporters.

Data from market consultancy huaon.com show that in 2024, the world's top five cable-free swimming pool cleaning robots in terms of shipment were all Chinese companies — Wybotics Co Ltd, Sunwoda Electronic Co Ltd, Sensomics, Wavefuture and Shenzhen Aiper Intelligent Co Ltd. The five companies took up 51.4 percent of the world's cable-free swimming pool cleaning robot market.

Another Chinese company from Taizhou in East China's Zhejiang province, Deep Cleaner, is also making a noticeable splash in the market. Established in 2022, the company had an annual shipment volume of over 100,000 units by 2025, a customer repurchase rate exceeding 70 percent, and a product return rate controlled at 2 percent to 3 percent, far below the industry average of around 15 percent.

In addition, more than 95 percent of the company's products are sold to overseas markets, covering three major categories — underwater cleaning, water surface cleaning and swimming pool disinfection and sterilization, and all core components are self-developed.

Wang Hua, general manager of Deep Cleaner, said: "Pool cleaning robots are a category with a high proportion of plastic parts. The shell, internal structural components, transmission gears, seals — almost all are injection molding parts built on molds. The first step for a swimming pool robot from design to mass production is not the circuit board or motor, but the mold."

The factory of the company is located in Huangyan in Taizhou, the most densely populated area of China's mold industry. From mold design, steel processing, heat treatment, mold testing to injection molding mass production, Huangyan has the most complete mold industry chain cluster in China. Whether it's mold delivery time or repair response speed, Huangyan takes a lead in the country.

In terms of research and development, the company invests 7 million yuan ($1.04 million) to 8 million yuan annually, and has technical cooperation with Zhejiang University and Zhejiang University of Technology. These two universities have a deep academic accumulation in the fields of motor control, fluid mechanics and materials science, which happen to coincide with the core technology direction of swimming pool cleaning robots.

Lin Xianping, an associate professor at Hangzhou City University, said that domestic swimming pool robots are completing the transformation from original equipment manufacturer assembly to technical solution output, with the vast majority of products sold to the European, American and Australian markets.

zhengyiran@chinadaily.com.cn