Shanghai Embodied Fund führt die Beteiligung an, Li Auto beteiligt sich. Ein Unternehmen für Embodied Haptics schließt eine Finanzierung im Wert von 100 Millionen Yuan ab | Exclusive von Hardcore Kr

Author | Huang Nan

Editor | Yuan Silai

36Kr learned that Xense Robotics, an embodied tactile enterprise (hereinafter referred to as "Xense Robotics"), recently completed a Pre-A round of financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan. This round of financing was led by Futeng Capital (Shanghai Embodied Intelligence Fund), and co - participated by leading market - oriented institutions such as Li Auto, a major industry player, Binfu Capital, and Kexi Capital. Existing shareholders such as Hillhouse Capital, Yuanhe Origin Ventures, and Gobi Partners continued to follow - on invest.

The financing funds will be mainly used for technology R & D investment, accelerating product iteration, expanding the team size, and developing market channels to improve the full - chain business layout. This is also the third round of financing completed by "Xense Robotics" this year. Previously, the company had received investments from institutions such as Hillhouse Capital, Zhipu Robotics, Yuanhe Origin Ventures, Gobi Partners, Plug and Play China, Jiaoda Hanyuan Fund, and Xiaomiao Langcheng. With the participation of Futeng Capital and Li Auto, it will promote the implementation and popularization of its tactile perception technology in real - world industrial scenarios.

"Xense Robotics" is an enterprise that 36Kr has been following for a long time. It was established in May 2024 and is headquartered in Shanghai. The company focuses on the field of dexterous manipulation of intelligent agents with multi - modal tactile perception technology as its core. Through innovative tactile perception technology, it provides intelligent agents with multi - modal tactile perception and manipulation capabilities to understand the real world, promoting embodied intelligence from fine - grained operations to general perception.

Xense Robotics' product matrix (Source/Enterprise)

After graduating with a doctorate from Peking University, founder Ma Daolin studied under Alberto Rodriguez, a well - known scholar in the field of robot manipulation. He focused on researching the application of the visual - tactile technology route in manipulation perception, and was the first to propose a robot manipulation path of "constructing spatial perception based on touch", and for the first time achieved high - precision motion tracking of grasped objects based on touch. In addition, many core founding members are from top domestic and foreign universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and University College London.

Currently, although the market already has mature visual solutions such as lidar and 3D cameras, in manufacturing scenarios, there are still many fine - grained and flexible scenarios that cannot be automated due to visual limitations.

With the upgrading of the demand for fine - grained and flexible operations in scenarios, embodied intelligence has shown the ability to effectively meet these needs. Among them, tactile technology has become an indispensable key support. It is not only the core guarantee for achieving precise and flexible operations, but also can improve the perception and interaction experience of intelligent agents, enhance the adaptability to the real physical world, and at the same time, allow humans to obtain real, delicate, and perceptible comfortable feedback.

The three - dimensional morphology perception ability of Xense sensors (Source/Enterprise)

According to a report by international market research firm VMR, the global tactile sensor market size exceeded $15 billion in 2024 and is expected to exceed $35 billion in the next few years. With the development of embodied intelligence and intelligent perception interaction, the tactile market size is even expected to exceed one trillion dollars.

However, high - quality tactile data directly affects the performance ceiling of embodied operation models and is the core foundation for technological breakthroughs. To achieve the full - chain implementation from the acquisition and real - time feedback of high - precision multi - modal tactile data to precise operation control, enterprises still face many challenges.

Specifically in terms of the product matrix, "Xense Robotics" has completed the construction of a full - chain technical path from core hardware to system platforms. Its products include a full range of tactile sensors, tactile data acquisition systems, tactile simulators, tactile actuators, and tactile control systems.

Traditional tactile sensors have obvious bottlenecks in resolution, multi - modal signal acquisition, durability, and cost. Coupled with the lack of high - quality tactile data, tactile solutions have not received sufficient attention for a long time. To address these pain points, "Xense Robotics" has launched a series of multi - modal visual - tactile sensors and terminal products. Compared with previous capacitive, resistive, and Hall - effect tactile sensors, they perform better in terms of resolution, anti - interference, multi - modal fusion, and dynamic response, and can be adapted to diverse scenarios such as dexterous manipulation, industrial fine - grained assembly, flexible logistics, and perception interaction.

Consistency test of multi - modal visual - tactile sensors (Source/Enterprise)

In terms of core performance, Xense sensors can accurately identify micron - level offsets and force changes during the assembly process, effectively avoiding jamming and wear of precision components. After millions of force - pressing tests, they are more reliable in high - speed and high - frequency industrial scenarios. In terms of algorithms, they are equipped with a self - calibration algorithm to ensure stable accuracy throughout the device's lifecycle, reducing the frequency and cost of operation and maintenance. At the same time, with a volume of only 4 cm³, the sensors are easier to integrate into compact robotic arms or grippers, meeting the needs of fine - grained operations such as precise cable plugging and micro - bearing assembly.

In addition, "Xense Robotics" also provides supporting visualization software, tactile simulation, and data acquisition toolchains, which can effectively help customers reduce tactile data acquisition costs by 95%.

Tactile sensors are not only a hardware entry point. Based on its full - chain capabilities, "Xense Robotics" can achieve the organic integration of "sensor + actuator + controller" by deeply integrating its self - developed high - precision multi - modal tactile sensors with intelligent perception algorithms and control algorithms, providing a software - hardware integrated solution. For example, in industrial scenarios, the system can sense micro - force changes during the assembly process in real - time and dynamically adjust the operation posture to complete tasks such as high - precision shaft - hole assembly that are difficult for traditional robots to handle.

The easy - replaceability of Xense sensors (Source/Enterprise)

36Kr learned that as of now, the products of "Xense Robotics" have been first verified and applied in scenarios such as embodied dexterous manipulation, industrial precision assembly, tactile detection, flexible logistics, and home intelligent agents. It has won orders from leading domestic and foreign enterprises such as Zhipu, Google, Independent Variable, Galaxy General, and Zhongqing, and has carried out scenario - based cooperation with CATL, Li Auto, and Haier.

With the continuous increase in the deployment of tactile sensors, in the future, "Xense Robotics" is expected to gradually build a "tactile cloud" data and ecological platform through its "sensor + data acquisition system + simulator + real - world scenario application", providing reliable tactile data for enterprise users and individual developers to reduce innovation costs and jointly promote the implementation and application of embodied intelligence.

Views from investors:

The person - in - charge of Futeng Capital said, Embodied intelligence is a key strategic direction in Shanghai. As a local innovative enterprise in Shanghai, Xense Robotics focuses on visual - tactile perception technology and is currently the only company in the market that can provide a solution beyond the sensing ability of human fingers. Starting from industrial embodiment, the company provides core tactile perception and control modules for the embodied intelligence and humanoid robot industries, and develops a core technology system for the comprehensive physical interaction of intelligent agents. Its clear and practical technology commercialization path makes us full of confidence in its development prospects.

Chen Yu, the founding partner of Binfu Capital, said, The implementation of embodied intelligence requires the physical interaction between robots and the real world. Limited by lifespan and cost issues, the current visual - tactile solutions have not been widely industrialized. However, we have seen the technological breakthroughs and engineering implementation explorations of the Xense team in the visual - tactile field, and we are full of confidence and expectations for the large - scale implementation of their solutions.

Wang Guanda, the general manager of the Beijing Business Center of Kexi Capital, said, Based on visual - tactile sensors, Xense Robotics can provide multi - modal and high - precision physical information of contact surfaces, meeting the needs of different types of customers such as motion control and model training. The company has completed the R & D of a series of visual - tactile sensors, which can be used with end - effectors of different forms. In the future, it is expected to break through the existing technological application limitations in multiple scenarios.

The person - in - charge of the Hillhouse Capital project said, Xense has completed the full - chain technical path from high - precision multi - modal visual - tactile systems to intelligent control algorithms, possessing highly scarce technological value. As the leading investor in its angel round, we continue to be optimistic about Xense's technological endowment and engineering implementation ability. We believe that Xense will accelerate the injection of top - notch tactile perception capabilities into industrial manufacturing and the next - generation intelligent agents, leading to further breakthroughs in embodied intelligence.

The person - in - charge of Yuanhe Origin Ventures said, High - end tactile sensing technology and solutions are the "bottleneck" areas that need to be urgently broken through in the domestic embodied field. As a pioneer in domestic visual - tactile perception technology, Xense Robotics has achieved the transformation of technology from the laboratory to products and is accelerating the commercialization process. We believe that with its full - chain tactile technology accumulation and industry - leading product strength, the market prospects are very broad.

The person - in - charge of Gobi Partners said, Tactile perception is the cornerstone of the interaction between robots and the physical world. Currently, the technology maturity is still in its early stage, with great development potential. Xense has made multiple key technological breakthroughs in the field of multi - modal tactile perception, and its commercialization progress is also leading in the market. With its senior R & D team and profound technological accumulation, we believe that Xense will continue to lead the technological innovation in the field of tactile perception and promote the progress and development of the embodied intelligence industry in the future.