The Huawei-backed startup GigaAI just launched its AI-powered robot maid.
The wheeled humanoid, named the SeeLight S1, is engineered to cook, handle laundry, and tidy up messy homes. The first rollout is already happening in Wuhan, where 100 units are entering Optic Valley talent apartments for scenario testing. The government-backed housing is for skilled workers, researchers, startup employees, and other young professionals that Wuhan wants to attract to its major tech hub.
Launched in 2023, GigaAI (极佳视界) is led by Huang Guan, a Tsinghua University PhD. The startup reportedly raised around $147 million in March 2026 and another $221 million in the following month. Its total funding is around $440 million.
GigaAI is providing the robots free of charge. They’ll collect feedback from tenants, monitor how the robots handle real household layouts, and fix issues before wider seed-user home trials. Once proven safe, GigaAI plans to expand into homes with elderly people, children, and pets.
In its launch video, the SeeLight S1 uses simple grippers, but previous GigaAI demos have shown earlier prototypes integrated with five-fingered hands. One scene shows the mechanical maid cleaning a toilet and then washing its end effectors in the bathroom sink.
GigaAI says the robot’s artificial intelligence runs on its world model, GigaWorld, which means it can look at a messy room, figure out what needs to be done, and choose the right actions. According to the startup, GigaWorld can generate realistic video, 3D scenes, different camera views, object positions, textures, and motion examples.
The robot’s AI is called GigaBrain, a vision-language-action (VLA) model. The system uses thousands of hours of robot data, much of it generated through GigaWorld, for continuous improvement.
The current cost is around $28,000 but the startup is aiming for pricing below $14,000 by next year.