"Juqiao Industry", which expands in the field of humanoid robots and focuses on flexible fiber sensors, has received tens of millions of yuan in Pre-A round financing | Exclusive report by 36Kr

Text | Zhang Zhuoqian

Editor | Yuan Silai

36Kr has learned that Weihai Juqiao Industrial Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Juqiao Industrial") has announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan in Series A financing. The investors are Jinhui Feng Investment, a strategic party from the education technology group, and Qingdao Hexin. This round of financing will be mainly used for the R & D and iteration of tactile and robot skin, the expansion of production lines for delivery, and market promotion. As of now, "Juqiao Industrial" has completed two rounds of financing and has started a new round of financing to further promote the R & D and promotion of robot tactile products. Duowei Capital serves as the exclusive financial advisor for this round.

"Juqiao Industrial" was established in early 2024 and is a company focusing on the R & D and production of flexible fiber sensors. Its products are centered around fabric and cloth sensors and are widely used in multiple fields such as robotics, medical care and rehabilitation, and the automotive industry. Currently, "Juqiao Industrial"'s products include hardware devices such as robot skin and hand tactile sensors, as well as software system solutions such as sensor - supporting software algorithms, elderly care medical systems, and automotive cockpit comfort evaluation systems, and sensor development toolkits.

In recent years, with the development of technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G communication, the demand for sensors that can adapt to complex environments and provide diverse data collection in various industries has increased significantly. Flexible sensors have broken through the limitations of traditional rigid sensors and achieved functions that traditional sensors cannot. For example, in human motion monitoring, they can fit the joints of the human body and accurately capture subtle changes in movements.

However, at the same time, most traditional flexible sensors are thin - film pressure sensors, which have limitations in terms of foldability, elasticity, anti - interference ability, breathability, and durability, making it difficult to meet the market demand for high - performance and high - reliability sensors. In addition, many sensor products face problems such as poor consistency and low yield during large - area mass production, which limits their large - scale mass production and commercial application.

In response to the pain points in the industry, "Juqiao Industrial" has independently developed the fourth - generation fiber resistive flexible fiber sensor. Compared with traditional thin - film pressure sensors, this technology abandons the traditional thin - film planar structure and completely deconstructs the three layers of conductive coating, piezoresistive coating, and coating substrate into fibers. It uses a fiber nylon inner core, a fiber piezoresistive outer core, and a fiber electrode outer core. The innovation in materials gives it ultra - high flexibility, allowing it to be folded completely. It has passed hundreds of thousands of vehicle - grade impact tests, with a minimum folding radius of less than 0.1 mm. At the same time, it has ultra - high elasticity and stretchability, can automatically rebound after long - term use without calibration, resists various environmental interferences, and has excellent durability. The fabric sensor also has the characteristics of breathability, comfort, and skin - friendliness, and can be adapted to various scenarios like clothing.

"We are currently focusing on expanding our business in the field of humanoid robots and making fiber sensors into mass - producible large - area robot electronic skin," founder Zhang Jingqi told 36Kr. "Robot skin can help robots better perceive the overall environment, truly achieve human - like interaction, and ensure the safety of human - robot interaction. For example, installing sensors on the soles of robots can enable them to sense the hardness and balance state of different ground surfaces, so as to walk and perform tasks more stably."

Schematic diagram of Unitree skin suit products

Zhang Jingqi introduced that the fabric - structured flexible fiber sensors have obvious advantages in the field of humanoid robots. Taking the Unitree Technology G1 skin suit as an example, it includes three product forms: dexterous hand gloves, upper - body skin, and sole skin, and has characteristics such as high flexibility, high elasticity, breathability, and durability. Among them, the dexterous hand gloves can achieve multi - point tactile sensing across the palm and also have the function of motion capture and remote operation. The hand joints can be completely folded, with a minimum triggering force as low as 0.01 N and a measuring range of up to 3500 kPa. Based on NVIDIA Isaac Sim, the training and deployment of the tactile modality will be realized, and a closed - loop of tactile data can be completed. "Juqiao Industrial" is currently in negotiation with more than a dozen leading humanoid robot companies and is providing them with skin suits for the upper body, full palm of the hand, and soles. It can currently achieve batch delivery.

Schematic diagram of dexterous hand glove products

In addition, "Juqiao Industrial"'s products have been practically applied and verified by customers in multiple fields such as elderly care and medical care, and automotive intelligent cockpits. In the elderly care field, the company has reached cooperation with dozens of customers such as Tian'e Daojia, Taikang, Lecheng Elderly Care, and Weigao Group, providing intelligent care solutions for home - based elderly care, medical nursing, and elderly care institutions. Its mattress products provide "non - invasive" health monitoring for the elderly, which can monitor the pressure distribution, sleeping posture, sleep quality, and breathing conditions of the elderly, accurately capture weak signals, effectively solve the problem of pressure ulcers, and provide timely warnings for strokes and falls from beds. In the automotive field, the company has cooperated with leading automobile manufacturers, applying sensors to automotive intelligent cockpits to achieve personalized intelligent adjustment. It can even turn the seats into game consoles, opening up a new intelligent driving experience. Some models are being promoted to the mass - production stage.

Schematic diagram of "Juqiao Care" elderly care series products

Zhang Jingqi told 36Kr that one of the commercial bottlenecks in the sensor industry is the consistency and yield of large - scale mass production. Through self - built factories, thousands of proof - of - concept experiments, transformation of textile machines, and upgrading of dyeing and finishing formulas, "Juqiao Industrial" has not only significantly reduced production costs by 80% but also increased consistency by 200%. Currently, the factory has achieved industrial roll - to - roll production, with an annual production capacity of up to 200,000 pieces, a production yield of up to 95%, and a new product proof - of - concept time within 24 hours.

"Juqiao Industrial" currently has a team of more than 30 people. Founder Zhang Jingqi graduated from the Department of Electronic Engineering at the University of York in the UK and once served as the CTO of a Xiaomi ecosystem company. He holds multiple relevant invention patents. The core team members come from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and leading intelligent hardware companies, with profound technical accumulation and experience in intelligent hardware product definition and mass production.

It is reported that the company is launching a new round of financing, and the funds obtained will be mainly used for continuous technology R & D, capacity expansion, and team expansion.

Views of the investors:

Zhou Lifeng, a partner at Jinhui Feng Investment: Juqiao Industrial has provided a solution that changes the game rules of embodied touch. Only when both cost - control and large - area mass - production reliability are achieved can the electronic skin covering the whole body of robots be realized. We are optimistic that Juqiao Industrial will lead humanoid robots into a new era of "full - skin perception". By making flexible pressure sensors in the form of fiber fabrics, Juqiao Industrial has achieved a breakthrough in the organic unity of high flexibility, high sensitivity, high precision, wide measuring range, high durability, and low cost. We continue to be optimistic about the team's technical R & D and industrialization capabilities in the field of flexible fiber sensors and look forward to and support the team to continuously bring more products that solve customers' pain points.