April Robotics Round-up: UBTECH, Kepler, Pudu, Xpeng & More

**Uking Sun** (0:00)
Today, we will take a look at some exciting developments in China's humanoid robot sector in April. I will talk about several companies, and finally the TectoSensors, which you might know that are crucial to the technology of dexterous hands. First, on April 24, Ubtech achieved a milestone by signing agreement to sell its Walker S1 and Walker C humanoid robots, which will be used in car maker for car production and customer reception. Remember these two functions. Ubtech said this is the world's first this kind of contract for humanoid robots in a small batch, not a single one. Think about that, the humanoid robots doing real work in a factory setting. But why it must be humanlike? Honestly, I don't know. Before this achievement, Ubtech has trained its robots at several major car manufacturers, such as Geilei, FAW, Volkswagen's Qingdao plant, BYD, and other companies. Ubtech said that it made technology strides in body intelligence. Notably, in March, tens of our worker S1 were working collaboratively for some industrial tasks. The footage looks quite stunning, but please remember this is for the training purpose. And furthermore, something that you might want to know is Worker C will serve as a guide at the China Pavilion of 2025 Osaka World Expo. So, anyone going there, I would like to know how you experience to interact with Worker C. Now, let's talk about Kepler Robotics. On April 23rd, it partnered with the automotive giant Saic Gm to test its humanoid robot called K2, Bumblebee, in the factory environments. The robot showed good capabilities in tasks like same inspection and handling the metal parts thanks to its dexterous hands.
Notably, K2 ran for a whopping 8 hours on just 1 hour of charge, so far exceeding the typical 2-4 hours of performance. But with a price tag of $30,000, I think it needs about up to 1.8 years to get the investment back. Kepler wants to get is get this humanoid robot out of the lab and into the manufacturing, logistics and of course education. Speaking of SAIC Motor, its investment arm for the first time had poured money into NOS Robotics, or Nosh in Chinese. NOS is the manufacturer of a plenary roller screw. It is a critical component in the robots to convert rotary motion into linear motion. This is the first time to invest into this kind of sector.
NOS was established in 2023 in Shenzhen, and raised several hundred million yuan in 2024 NOS has successfully achieved the mass production of what is called the world's smallest plenary roller screw. It's about 1.5 mm screw and 5.5 mm for the nut diameter. And it has already secured deals from some leading robot makers in China. OK, now moving on to the electric vehicle world. Xpeng showcased its humanoid robot, Iron, at Auto Shanghai on April 23 Xpeng purchased Duogou, or Dogutix, in 2020, and briefly demonstrated Iron in November 2024
Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng introduced the robot in Auto Shanghai. He said that the robot is remotely controlled. From the footage, what I found interesting is that every person looked quite intense, except He Xiaopeng.
Anyway, Iron will be used for automation and customer reception in the future, according to this company. And this kind of use is similar to the one I mentioned earlier by Ubtech. Right? Now, let's talk about service robots. Deloitte China, yes, the accounting firm, and Pudu Robotics. They worked to release a white paper. The report highlights the industry's rapid growth due to the technology advances, policy support, industrial shifts, and of course, demographic changes. Pudu Robotics is recognized as an industry leader in the commercial service robot. In 2023, it commanded a 23% share of the market in the world. The report also emphasizes the role of service robots in promoting sustainable development by reducing the carbon footprint and enhancing the service accessibility. In 2024, Pudu Robotics introduced the Robot2Everything R2X architecture. It aims to overcome the industry barriers from accessibility to the users. Now, let's focus on something super important that often gets overlooked. Tectal sensors. There's some big news here. BYD has invested over 100 million yuan to Parsini Tech. What's cool about Parsini is that it covers the entire chain from core sensor components to the humanoid robot manufacturing. It aims to prove robots with a multi-dimensional tactile sensor as sensitive as human fingertips. For example, the company's Tectaurs Hans feature the Tecto and Vero technology innovation. Its robot called Tora One is equipped with advanced navigation technology and integrated with several cameras to support a 360-degree environment detection. Remember, this is also the largest investment from BYD to embody the AR sector. Apart from Parcini Tech, there's a company called Tachan Tech in Beijing, also focusing on Tecto sensors, so the robots can perceive the environment, the information by touching. Tachan Tech's philosophy is to process as much sensory information and execute the actions at the robot's hand, the end effector. So this can reduce the computational burden on the robot's central brain. So if your hand can do, don't use your brain, I guess. Tachan Tech, leads market for robotic fingertip sensors in China. The company said, a keen challenge they are trying to address is the material science for better sensor sensitivity. OK, that's all for this April episode. I will see you next time. Thank you.