In mid-February,Hangzhou Unitree Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Unitree") announced the completion of the B2 round of financing, with a financing amount of nearly 1 billion yuan, new investors include:Meituan, Goldstone Investment, Source Code, the old shareholders Shenzhen Venture Capital, China Network Investment, Rongyi, Dunhong and Mida Junshi followed.
According to the data of Tianyancha,Unitree's B2 round of financing is the highest financing amount in the field of quadruped robots at the beginning of 2024.
Breaking the shell to lead the global leader in quadruped robots
Founded in 2016, Unitree is the world's leading developer of high-performance robots, focusing on the independent research and development, production and sales of consumer-grade and industry-level high-performance general-purpose footed or humanoid robots and dexterous robotic arms.
The development history of Unitree Robot.
Unitree's self-developed high-energy density joint motors, reducers, 3D lidars and other core components of robotsIn addition to perception and motion control algorithms in the field of traditional robotics, Unitree is also developing and perfecting the robot AI world model. At present, Unitree quadruped robot products have been purchased by many university laboratories and research institutes, including Kaneme Keelung University, for secondary development and LLLMS large model training and debugging.
Wang Xingxing said: "The reason why we can quickly run through the whole process from product to delivery lies in the accumulation of robot technology, combined with previous experience in quadruped robotsIn the early stage of H1 research and development, the structural design, circuit board and various manufacturing processes of our products were all aimed at mass production, and the motion control algorithm and other technologies of humanoid robots can also learn from the experience of previous quadruped products.
Science and engineering wizards have become the hottest post-90s entrepreneurs
Wang Xingxing, born in the 90s, has a standard science student mentality and has been obsessed with science and technology since he was a child.
Wang Xingxing, the founder of Unitree.
Wang Xingxing's first undergraduate work was developed by himself in 2009 when he was a freshman in his freshman yearBipedal humanoid robotsIn the following 2013 to 2015 master's degree, he was once again alone and developed a new one from the underlying motor drive board, the mechanical structure of the whole machine to the motion control algorithm of the whole machineThe low-cost, high-performance four-legged robot XDOG is fully electrically driven, and so does the robotThe world's first small, high-performance, low-cost quadruped robot driven by an external rotor brushless motor has created a precedent for the world's low-cost and high-performance footed robot technology solutions. So far, the world's mainstream quadruped or bipedal robots basically use similar solutions. Due to advanced technology, the product won the second prize of the international intelligent "2015 Star Creator" competition and won a bonus of 80,000 yuan, which also became the first pot of gold in Wang Xingxing's life.
In 2016, Wang Xingxing's XDOG quadruped robot developed by Wang Xingxing received capital attention, with the support of funds, Wang Xingxing officially founded Yushu in the same year, and since then has set Yushu's vision of "using science and technology to promote the progress of the world". After more than 7 years of rapid development, Unitree has completed the technology accumulation from quadruped robots, humanoid robots and core components, and has become a pioneer in the field of power inspection and emergency rescueUnitree has become the world's first company to propose technical solutions, the first to commercialize, and in the past few years, the world's largest shipment of quadruped robots (about 60% of global shipments).The global sales volume has been leading for many years, and has received wide attention and praise from all over the world.
Many people bluntly said: "In the past few years, Unitree has provided cost-effective robots for the world, and with the joint efforts of global roboticists, we have significantly promoted the progress of robot AI; It is no exaggeration to say that the motion AI used by most of the world's humanoid robots is almost all migrated from quadruped robots, otherwise the progress of global humanoid robots would not be so rapid. ”
Innovate and continue to make breakthroughs
At the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, Unitree quadruped robots will be out of the circle. Pick up discus, send javelins,Become a "conspicuous bag" in front of the eyes of a global audienceOn the eve of the Asian Para Games, UNITREE B1, which is facing the industry level, assisted the blind torchbearer Cai Qionghui to successfully complete the torch relay task, which can be said to have earned enough eyeballs at that time. In addition, Unitree has frequently appeared on the big stage at home and abroad: the 2021 CCTV Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Ox, the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, the pre-competition performance of the 2023 Superbowl (American Spring Festival Gala), etc., which have attracted widespread attention from the society again and again.
In January 2024, CCTV's "News Network", Wang Xingxing accepted an in-depth interview with representatives of key enterprises on "accelerating the release of the growth potential of China's manufacturing industry".
During the 2023 Asian Games, Unitree four-legged robot became a volunteer at the venue.
In terms of industry applications,In 2017, Unitree took the lead in the fields of power inspection, fire rescue and so onand the launch of Unitree B2 for industrial applications, which has excellent load capacity and extreme stability. At present, it has been widely used in dozens of projects, including a power plant inspection robot dog project of the National Energy Group, a power grid 220kV substation inspection robot dog project, an ultra-high voltage 500kV substation inspection robot dog project and a provincial fire rescue corps fire emergency robot dog project, etc., bringing more efficient and safer solutions to various industries.
Unitree won the title of national specialized, special and new little giant.
In terms of intellectual property rights, up to now, Unitree has applied for more than 180 domestic and foreign patents and authorized more than 150 patents; It has been rated as a national high-tech certification enterprise, a national specialized and special new "little giant" enterprise, a gazelle enterprise, the first (set) equipment certification, a high-tech enterprise research and development center in Zhejiang Province, a specialized and special new small and medium-sized enterprise in Zhejiang Province, and so on. It is reported thatUnitree is the first and only quadruped robot company in China that has won the national specialized, special and new little giant.
The goal, a new round of industrial revolution
Looking back on the past year, AIGC has made remarkable achievements in **generation and **generation, but it does not seem to have a significant impact on the actual life of the general public, content generation is more like the fruit of a towering tree, and robot AI is significantly differentOnce the AI of the robot model breaks through the "singularity", a new round of industrial revolution will occur, completely subverting everyone's life now.
An interesting little story
An interesting little story: According to Unitree's internal sources, Wang Xingxing mentioned that when he first learned about AI, he liked neural networks very much. At that time, in his freshman year in 2010, he had read almost all the books related to neural networks in the school library, and neural network AI was a very unpopular field at that time. In 2010, he wrote a computer coursework with a small **, the topic was probably "Increasing the scale of neural networks, and the ability of AI will become stronger and stronger!"
At present, Unitree is accelerating the evolution of general-purpose robots and recruiting for this, let's wait and see.