JD Technology announced the upgrade of its smart customer service chabot’s functions for merchants on May 11, aiming to help them get through the 618 Grand Promotion season.
The new version includes system upgrades specifically tailored for merchants use, including a beta light version for SMEs, as well as a special plan for 618. The purpose of upgrading the system is to help merchants improve customer satisfaction by being able to handle the entire shopping process from pre-sales to after sales more effectively. This also contributes to improved ROI.
Intelligent services such as image recognition and automatic replies to logistics queries enhance the robot’s problem solving abilities.
The robot can also help merchants achieve efficient decision-making by providing insight into customers’ emotions based on its algorithm, knowledge analysis and semantic understanding.
As the first robot to apply emotional detection at scale, JD’s customer service robot has gained significant experience operating during JD’s promotions major such as 618 and Singles Day(Nov 11).The service has also been opened up to over 15,000 merchants. During the Singles Day Grand Promotion in 2020, the robot served 84.32 million queries operating for over 100,000 hours.
Dr. Xiaodong He, vice president of JD.com and the deputy managing director of JD AI Research shared, “If I had to summarize what we are doing in one sentence, we are using AI to help our client and their customer to feel closer.”
JoyInside, JD.com’s AI solution for smart devices, has been named on Fortune China’s Best Designs 2026, recognising its approach to bringing AI into everyday products and creating more intuitive, responsive experiences in the home.
The annual list, released on September 3, recognises designs that address real human needs, solve complex problems, and demonstrate both commercial potential and broader social value. This year, Fortune China highlighted the growing convergence of AI and the physical world as a notable shift shaping product design.
For JoyInside, the idea is straightforward: technology should adapt to people, rather than asking people to adapt to technology.
Traditional smart-home experiences often depend on users giving precise commands to individual devices. JoyInside is designed to make these interactions more natural. Through everyday conversation and contextual understanding, connected devices can better interpret what users need and coordinate their responses across different home scenarios.
JD.com demonstrated this concept through its AI Home at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai. Across a full home setting spanning the living room, kitchen, study and bedroom, visitors could experience how AI connects with physical products. A smart mattress, for example, can adjust based on the user’s physical state, while a connected beverage machine can interpret a casual comment such as “I’m a little thirsty” and respond accordingly.
The technology is already moving beyond demonstration environments. JoyInside has established technology partnerships with nearly 200 leading brands across smart homes, kitchen appliances, healthcare devices, intelligent toys, and other categories. During JD.com’s 618 Grand Promotion this year, nearly 100 AI-enabled home products powered by JoyInside were introduced to customers.
These collaborations show how JoyInside can be applied to different everyday needs. A J.Zao smart mattress combines sleep monitoring with personalised insights, while an AI-enabled wheelchair connected with the JINGDONG Health (also known as JD Health) ecosystem supports features such as real-time location, electronic safety zones and one-touch assistance, helping families stay connected with elderly members.
For brands, JoyInside also provides a way to integrate AI capabilities into existing products without having to build every layer of the technology independently. By working across brands and product categories, JD.com is building an open AI Home ecosystem where appliances and devices can become more responsive to individual needs and work more naturally together.
This reflects a broader direction in JD.com’s approach to AI: the value of a model is ultimately measured by what it can do in real workflows and everyday life, not simply by its size or technical specifications.
JD.com is exploring this intersection between AI and the physical world across a range of real-world environments. In the home, JoyInside brings AI into appliances, health devices and toys. In logistics, JINGDONG Logistics (also known as JD Logistics) is applying embodied AI to tasks such as handling and moving goods in warehouse operations.
These applications draw on JD.com’s more than two decades of experience in retail, supply chains, logistics and services, where AI can be tested against real operational needs and continuously improved through practical use.
For JoyInside, the Fortune China recognition reflects a simple design philosophy: start with a real human need, then determine how AI can make the experience better. As more brands connect products to the ecosystem, JD.com aims to make AI less about what happens behind a screen and more about useful, intuitive experiences people can see and feel in everyday life.
JD.com unveiled its robotics strategy at the 2026 World Robot Conference (WRC 2026), outlining plans to commit RMB 10 billion in resources to the sector by 2028 and accelerate the deployment of robots across homes, businesses and public services.
JD.com’s strategy focuses on supply chain, lifecycle services and technology. Leveraging its retail, logistics, healthcare, industrial and service businesses, the company aims to help robotics companies move more quickly from product development to large-scale commercial deployment.
Held in Beijing from 19 to 23 August, WRC 2026 brings together companies, researchers and industry experts from around the world. At WRC 2026, JD.com has created a 600-square-metre immersive exhibition space with robotic brands and partners.
Supporting Robotics Growth Through Supply Chain Capabilities
JD.com plans to invest RMB 10 billion in resources to the robotics sector by 2028. The company aims to help 100 robotics brands each generate more than RMB 1 billion in sales, bringing consumer robots to households in China and worldwide.
JD.com’s first-party retail business already joined by more than 200 robotics brands, as well as a wide range of manufacturers of core robot components, serving individual and household consumers.
JD.com booth at 2026 World Robot Conference (WRC)
BuildingLifecycle Services
JD.com expects to establish robotics after-sales service capabilities covering more than 100 countries and support the creation of more than 100,000 jobs for robotics service engineers, over the next five years.
The company also plans to establish 80 RoboBase facilities that offers an integrated service platform covering the entire robotics lifecycle. Services will include product display and delivery, repair and maintenance, research and design, pilot assembly, data collection, manufacturing and product upgrades, aiming to help robotics companies manage the servicing and maintenance of products at scale, while giving customers access to more reliable after-sales support.
Robot after-sales service
Accelerating Real-World Deployment
JD.com’s JoyInside embodied intelligence platform is developing an “AI Home” ecosystem that empower smart devices with AI capabilities. By the end of 2026, more than 10 million devices and robots are expected to be connected to the ecosystem.
The company’s cloud business, JD Cloud, also plans to collect more than 10 million hours of high quality training data needed by robotics over the next two years, leveraging the company’s real-world scenarios across commercial operations such as retail, logistics, healthcare, services and more.
These capabilities are intended to help robots move beyond laboratories and operate reliably in real-world environments, supporting JD.com’s ambition to become the World’s Largest Operational Platform for the Physical World.
High quality training data
Wide Applications of Robots in Operations
Robots are already being deployed across a variety of JD.com operations. Applications include customer assistance, shelf replenishment and coffee preparation in JD MALL stores; warehousing, goods handling, automated sorting and autonomous delivery in logistics; and fault diagnosis, battery replacement, equipment maintenance and recycling in robotics servicing. Robots are also being tested in healthcare services, including automated packing in pharmacies and assisted-living services for older people.
LangzuTech Mini Van autonomous delivery vehicle
JD.com is also working with more than 20 robotics brands on standardised battery products, covering categories including embodied intelligence robots and wheeled and legged robots. By setting common specifications for battery dimensions, interfaces, communication protocols and safety requirements, the company will work with robotics partners to improve battery safety while reducing operating costs and increasing efficiency.