Iván Hernández Dalas: Leju raises $200M for humanoid production as Unitree unveils H2

Leju Robotics has raised funding as it develops humanoid robots like this one.

Chinese humanoid developers Leju and Unitree working toward IPOs. Source: Leju Robotics

The race for commercially viable humanoid robots continues, with Chinese companies making moves. Leju Robotics Technology Co. this week reportedly raised 1.5 billion yuan, or about $200 million U.S. Meanwhile, Unitree Robotics showed its agile H2 Destiny humanoid, which it claimed is designed for service use.

Spun out of the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) in 2016, Leju has been developing robots for education, healthcare, heavy load transport, and elder care. It has established research and development centers around China and opened an innovation center in Shenzhen, China, with Huawei a year ago.

Also founded in 2016, Unitree recently raised Series C funding that brought its valuation to $1.7 billion U.S. In August, the Hangzhou, China-based company launched its A2 lidar-equipped quadruped, and its H1 humanoid participated in China’s World Humanoid Robot Games.

Unitree’s new H2 robot comes in a commercial model for $29,000 and an educational model for an unspecified price. It is 182 cm (5 ft. 11 in.) tall, weighs about 70 kg (154.3 lb.), and has 31 degrees of freedom (DoF).

Leju builds an ‘open platform’

Leju Robotics said it has built an ecosystem that encompasses core robot components, gait-control algorithms, and the open-source Robot Operating System (ROS). It provides wheeled, tracked, and bipedal robots, as well as robotics as a service (RaaS) for multiple industries.

The Shenzhen-based startup‘s product line includes the AELOS and ROBAN small and medium-size humanoid robots, as well as the KUAVO-MY and KUAVO 3.0 full-size humanoids. AELOS participated in the closing ceremonies at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea.

KUAVO-MY is an “open platform” for general embodied intelligence, suitable for both developers and industrial applications, according to Leju. It stands 1.4 m (4 ft., 9.8 in.) tall and has more than 40 DoF, but the company did not list its weight.

Investors pave the way toward IPOs

Leju Robotics said it was one of the first companies in the Tencent AI Accelerator, the fourth batch of the Microsoft Accelerator in Shanghai, and the twelfth batch of Lenovo Star. The company raised 36.2 million in Series B funding in June 2019.

CITIC Golstone Investment, Shenzhen Investment Holdings, Shenzhen Longhua Capital, Qianhai Basic Investment, Shijingshan Industrial Fund, Oriental Precision Tuopu Group, and China Securities Investment participated in Leju’s latest funding. Other supporters included Daohe Long-term Investment, Shengyi Capital, Lianxin Capital, Probe Venture Capital, Hefei Industrial Investment, Jiuzhao Investment, and the Sino-US Green Fund.

Leju said it plans to use the capital for research and development; preparing for mass production; and expanding partnerships with fellow Chinese companies such as Huawei, Alibaba, and Haier. The company is reportedly planning an initial public offering (IPO), as is Unitree.

Morgan Stanley predicted that the global market for humanoid robots could reach $5 trillion by 2050, not including related supply chains and support. The firm noted that China‘s government is investing directly in workforce development, as well as humanoid and physical AI companies.

By contrast, ABI Research forecast that the humanoid market would be valued at $6.5 billion by 2030, experiencing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 138%. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) has observed that China is focusing on the service sector and a scalable supply of components.

Specs of the Unitree H2 humanoid robot.

Specifications of the new H2 humanoid robot. Source: Unitree Robotics

The post Leju raises $200M for humanoid production as Unitree unveils H2 appeared first on The Robot Report.



View Source

Popular posts from this blog

Iván Hernández Dalas: 4 Show Floor Takeaways from CES 2019: Robots and Drones, Oh My!

Image
We’ve had some time to recuperate from the madness of CES, in which more than 150,000 attendees and thousands of exhibitors displayed their latest gadgets, gizmos and yes, even robots, on the CES show floor. Last week’s reporter’s notebook focused on the collection of startups around the Eureka Park area of CES, but several of the same trends were evident on the main South Hall 2 area of the Las Vegas Convention Center, where drones, robotics, AR/VR, and gaming took center stage. While most of our time was spent at CES hosting the Service Robots Arrive in Daily Life event, we did have some time during the week to visit the show floor and record observations. Here’s what we saw on the show floor, as well as some of our own individual meetings: 1. Underwater drones make a big splash On the main floor, there was no busier aerial drone booth than the DJI booth, but that is expected given the company’s dominance in the space. But once you got past that, you noticed a lot more drone co...
Read more

[Ivan Hernandez Dalas] Mechatronics in Ghost in the Shell

Image
Adam Savage Behind the Scenes of Ghost in the Shell The acclaimed Ghost in the Shell portrayed serious advancements in technology and mechatronics, 20 years later we'll have a live action movie bringing all those elements to life. The acclaimed Ghost in the Shell (1995 Production: I.G, Bandai Visual, Kodansha and Manga Entertainment) portrayed serious advancements in technology and mechatronics, 20 years later we'll have a live action movie bringing all those elements to life. Animatronics, 3D printing, Castings, engineering, and art  will bring together this state of the art cyborgs  in a movie we can’t miss.  Tested´s Adam Savage  shows us -in a visit to Weta Workshops- how their team put together the  amazing and visually stunning  cyborgs for the movie. Adam Savage Behind the Scenes of Ghost in the Shell! Of course, let´s watch the trailer: "They created me, but they cannot control me." GHOST IN THE SHELL star...
Read more

Iván Hernández Dalas: Tacta Systems raises $75M to give robots a ‘smart nervous system’

Image
Tacta Systems said its technology enables robots to perform delicate, variable, human-like tasks with flexibility, efficiency, and autonomy. | Source: Adobe Stock Tacta Systems Inc., which is developing dexterous intelligence to give robots tactile skills and spatial awareness, last week raised $75 million. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup said it will use the funding to accelerate the development of systems capable of performing complex, human-like tasks. “Enabling machines to solve complex, physical world problems is the next frontier in robotics technology,” stated Andreas Bibl, co-founder and CEO of Tacta Systems. “AI models have become incredibly sophisticated in working with text and video, but much of the physical world remains incomprehensible to them,” he said. “We’re incredibly excited about the disruptive technology that we’re developing, which will ultimately help humanity automate much of the drudgery of factory work and grueling physical labor.” Tacta said its br...
Read more