Humanoid robots have fueled the development of the visual-tactile sensor track, attracting capital inflows. Multiple companies have intensively announced financing.
The rise of embodied intelligence represented by humanoid robots is expected to trigger an explosion in the visual and tactile sensor market. However, behind the popularity of visual and tactile sensors, there is no absolute leading player in the market yet.
Investors jumped in during the angel round and Series A. The investments from JD.com and Xiaomi have lifted the curtain on the financing boom in the visual and tactile sensor field.
Within a month, three domestic companies focusing on visual and tactile technology, namely Weiti Robot, Daimeng Robot, and Pasini, have successively announced obtaining financing.
On August 19, Shanghai Weiti Technology Co., Ltd., an affiliated company of Weiti Robot, underwent industrial and commercial changes, with Hanxing Venture Capital under Xiaomi and others added as shareholders. In April, Weiti Robot completed nearly 100 million yuan in angel and angel + rounds of financing, with the angel round led by Xiaomi's strategic investment.
On August 12, Daimeng Robot announced the completion of a 100-million-yuan-level angel ++ round of financing, led by China Merchants Group Venture Capital. In September 2023 and November 2024, the company completed several tens of millions of yuan in angel rounds and a 100-million-yuan-level angel + round respectively. With this angel ++ round, the cumulative financing amount in the three rounds reached hundreds of millions of yuan, setting a new record for the highest angel - round financing in the tactile sensing field.
Pasini's financing progress is even faster. In August, Pasini completed a Series A++++ round of hundreds of millions of yuan, led by JD.com's strategic investment. It is worth mentioning that this is already the company's third Series A financing this year, and the financing cycle for the same round is relatively long. Tianyancha shows that the company entered the angel - round financing in April 2021, and then won the Pre - A round, Series A, and Series A + rounds in each of the following three years. After entering 2025, it obtained Series A++, Series A+++, and Series A++++ rounds of financing in April, June, and August respectively, with the amount in each round reaching hundreds of millions of yuan.
Before this, other companies related to visual and tactile sensing, such as Yimu Technology and Qianjue Robot, also announced financing. Among them, Yimu Technology, aiming to be the "NVIDIA" in the field of AI perception, has completed hundreds of millions of yuan in Series D financing. Qianjue Robot, which received investment from Hillhouse Capital within half a year of its establishment, is providing tactile perception solutions for Zhiyuan Robot and conducting a proof - of - concept study on battery assembly with a robotic hand in the laboratory in cooperation with CATL.
Behind the financing boom, an increasingly obvious trend emerges: various humanoid robot and dexterous hand manufacturers are actively introducing sensors. The rise of embodied intelligence represented by humanoid robots is expected to trigger an explosion in the visual and tactile sensor market. However, there are many players in the tactile sensing field with different technical routes, and the market pattern is yet to be determined. Amid the high - profile situation, investors are intensively reviewing projects, entrepreneurs are testing the waters, and large companies are planning their layouts. All parties are trying to seize the opportunity.
Visual and Tactile Sensors Become Popular, but No Absolute Leader in the Market Yet
In most people's minds, a sensor is a device that converts external signals into electrical signals. The precise perception of the physical world by robots and their interaction with it both rely on sensors. Having human - like perception is a prerequisite for the practical application of humanoid robots. According to a research report from CITIC Construction Investment, the global sensor market is worth about $52 billion, with an annual growth rate of about 10% in recent years; the Chinese sensor market is worth about 164 billion yuan, with an annual growth rate of over 15%.
In the industry's view, tactile sensing is the key to the implementation of dexterous hands, and dexterous hands are the core of the hardware implementation of humanoid robots. It is also known as the "last mile" for humanoid robots to move towards large - scale commercial applications. As the complexity of processing tasks increases and application scenarios expand (from industry and commerce to households), tactile sensing will gradually extend from the hands to the arms, feet, torso, and face.
However, there are many mainstream technical routes for tactile sensing, including piezoresistive, capacitive, piezoelectric, magnetoelectric Hall effect, optical, triboelectric, and visual - tactile. Each route faces bottlenecks in terms of performance and cost in actual implementation. Among them, visual - tactile sensing technology is highly anticipated. Relevant research reports point out that compared with traditional tactile sensors, the visual - tactile sensor solution has the advantages of dynamic perception and high sensitivity similar to that of a human hand, an image - based data format suitable for AI and large models, low cost and easy integration, and strong anti - interference ability.
As a sensing method that integrates optical imaging and tactile perception, its core principle is to use a camera to capture the subtle deformation of an elastic material when it contacts an object, and then convert these changes into high - definition "tactile photos". By observing the deformation of the soft layer through the camera, it can "feel the force, texture, and sliding". This high - fidelity tactile information can help robots more accurately "understand" the characteristics of objects and perform delicate operations like humans.
According to the calculation of Guotai Haitong Securities, when the production of humanoid robots reaches 10 million, the corresponding market size of tactile sensors (considering the integration of various technical routes) is about 2.4 trillion yuan; when the production reaches 100 million, the market size may reach as high as 11.8 trillion yuan. If only considering a single technical route occupying the entire market, when the production of humanoid robots reaches 100 million, the corresponding market sizes of each technical route are as follows: piezoresistive 301 billion yuan, capacitive about 12.5 trillion yuan, magnetoelectric Hall effect about 25 trillion yuan, and visual - tactile about 37.6 trillion yuan.
Kunzhong Capital, an investor in Daimeng Robot, once said bluntly that the core logic of investing in the visual - tactile sensor industry currently lies in the fact that it is a cutting - edge technology field in its early stage but with a clear growth path. Since there is no absolute leading player in the market, it provides an opportunity for startups to overtake on a curve.
Startups Queue up to Announce Financing, and Founders Studied Under Industry Giants
Caixin Media noticed that the three visual - tactile sensing companies that received financing in the past month are all startups established in recent years, and their founders studied under different factions. Relying on financing support and the coordination of industry, academia, and research, they are quickly filling in the gaps and continuously making breakthroughs in industrialization.
Tracing the development of visual - tactile sensing technology (Vision - Based Tactile Sensor, VBTS for short), it was first proposed by a research team from the University of Tokyo in 2004 and was further developed by Professor Edward Adelson's team at MIT CSAIL in 2009. Professor Edward Adelson's team later founded Gelsight to industrialize VBTS, and currently, GelSight has become the global leader in visual - tactile sensors.
"Domestic startups are accelerating their catch - up through the coordination of industry, academia, and research, relying on the advantages of the local industrial chain and implementation scenarios." In the view of Kaiyuan Securities, the basic principles and open - source papers of visual - tactile sensing have been widely replicated and improved by global researchers. Chinese universities, research teams, and enterprises have made a large number of achievements in material design, thinning technology, calibration technology, and deep - learning models. There is no obvious gap in academic depth and technical principles compared with overseas.
Among them, the founder of Weiti Robot studied under Professor Edward Adelson, the founder of GelSight, continuing the cutting - edge technical lineage; Daimeng Robot was incubated from a research team at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Diedong Technology integrates MEMS technology with visual - tactile technology. Qianjue Robot, Zhiyuan Robot, Pasini, Yimu Technology, etc. have entered the new track through independent research and development in directions such as multi - dimensional tactile and full - stack systems.
Specifically, after graduating from MIT, Dr. Li Rui founded Weiti Robot in January 2024. The company is headquartered in Shanghai, focusing on visual - tactile sensing and hand - eye coordination. Its products are applied in fields such as intelligent manufacturing, medical rehabilitation, and intelligent services, and it has attracted investors such as Xiaomi's strategic investment, Hanxing Venture Capital, Plum Ventures, and Weiguang Venture Capital. Among them, Yare Capital, iCANX Fund, Plum Ventures, and Weiguang Venture Capital continuously participated in the angel and angel + rounds of investment.
Public information shows that the funds obtained by Weiti Robot through financing are mainly used to deepen technology research and development and the commercialization process, and to create relevant systems, algorithms, and scenario solutions suitable for general humanoid robots. Currently, Weiti Robot has reached cooperation with many scientific research institutions and leading manufacturing customers and has completed initial commercialization tests in scenarios such as precision assembly.
Daimeng Robot was incubated by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, known as the "West Point of the robot industry". It was jointly founded by Professor Wang Yu, the founding dean of the university's Robotics Research Institute, and Dr. Duan Jianghua, and officially started operation in August 2023, with its headquarters in Shenzhen, China. The company mainly focuses on the research and development of disruptive tactile perception and dexterous operation technology, and its investors include Kunzhong Capital, Jinding Capital, Guozhong Capital, and Lenovo Capital.
In April this year, Daimeng Robot released the world's first multi - dimensional high - resolution and high - frequency visual - tactile sensor, a multi - dimensional tactile perception five - finger dexterous hand, and a portable wearable remote - operation data acquisition system. Currently, the visual - tactile sensors independently developed by Daimeng Robot have been applied in fields such as humanoid robots and industrial robots.
Xu Jincheng, the founder of Pasini, graduated from Waseda University. He studied under Professor Sugano Shigeki, an authority in the Japanese robot industry. In 2021, Xu Jincheng returned to China to found Pasini. At the beginning of its establishment, it received joint leading investment from Dr. Lu Qi, the former global vice - president of Microsoft, and several first - tier capitals, and later received support from industrial capitals such as BAIC Capital, BYD, and JD.com.
After its establishment, Pasini mainly focuses on the research and development of commercial humanoid robots driven by multi - dimensional tactile sensing, and creates a full - link product matrix from "sensor core components" to "whole - machine manufacturing". It is understood that in terms of dexterous hands, Pasini has launched the "multi - dimensional tactile + AI vision" dual - mode dexterous hand DexH13. In terms of humanoid robots, Pasini has released the multi - dimensional tactile humanoid robot TORA - ONE.
Large Companies Bet Heavily, but the Technical Realization and Commercialization Path Need to Be Verified
It is worth noting that from the perspective of investors, although many companies are in the angel or Series A rounds of financing, they have already received support from well - known companies and industrial capitals. Companies such as Xiaomi, Lenovo, BYD, JD.com, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, and Meituan have frequently made investments in the field of embodied intelligence and related industrial chains.
Before strategically leading the investment in Pasini, JD.com had already been active in the upstream and downstream of the embodied intelligence industrial chain. In March this year, JD.com officially announced the establishment of an embodied intelligence business department, focusing on household scenarios. In May, JD.com participated in the financing of Zhiyuan Robot. On July 21, JD.com simultaneously led the investment in three humanoid robot companies, Qianxun Intelligence, Zhongqing Robot, and Zhujidongli, in one day.
Xiaomi, which has invested in Weiti Robot, has been deploying in the robot field for four or five years. Lu Weibing, a partner and the president of Xiaomi Group, said in a mid - year performance investor conference call in 2025 that it will still take time for humanoid robots to be deployed in factories and generate value. Currently, it seems very difficult, and the time point for a clear commercial closed - loop has not been determined. Xiaomi's goal is to first see if humanoid robots can achieve a business closed - loop in its own factories and then focus on efficiency improvement.
Humanoid robot manufacturers have also started to build their own investment portfolios. Currently, Zhiyuan has made external investments in many industrial chain companies, and Qianjue Robot is just one of them. The multi - modal high - precision tactile sensor G1 - WS launched by Qianjue Robot is used in the data collection work of Zhiyuan's "Expedition A2 - D" data collection robot.
At the same time, there are also cases where invested companies cooperate with investors in business. In February 2025, Daimeng Robot, invested by Lenovo Capital, announced a strategic cooperation agreement with Lenovo's Manufacturing - as - a - Service team in Shenzhen, and was officially included in the project library of Lenovo's intelligent manufacturing small - and medium - scale test base in Shenzhen to jointly promote collaborative innovation in intelligent manufacturing. According to the agreement, the two parties will promote the open sharing of resources, form a closer collaborative relationship, and further promote the application of Daimeng Robot's technology and products in the field of intelligent manufacturing.
However, in addition to visual - tactile sensing, many tactile sensor manufacturers are currently taking different routes, and their commercialization needs to be verified.
Caixin Media observed that from the perspective of financing rounds, generally, according to the previous definition of financing rounds, the distinction criteria for angel, A, B, C, and D rounds are clear. Currently, the market financing is more concentrated in the angel and Series A rounds, and the financing cycle for the same round has been extended overall. Investment institutions are more cautious than in previous years.
Kunzhong Capital also mentioned that investors need to be aware of potential risks. First, there is no standard large - scale dataset in the visual - tactile field similar to ImageNet in the computer vision field, and there is also a lack of a dedicated large tactile model. This poses double bottlenecks in terms of data and algorithms for technological development. Second, the durability of current visual - tactile sensors still needs improvement. The surface material may wear or age after long - term use, affecting the sensing accuracy and service life, which poses a challenge to the commercialization of products.
In terms of technical implementation, real - time processing of visual - tactile images requires a considerable amount of computing resources. How to control power consumption and cost while ensuring performance is a problem that must be solved in product engineering. In addition, due to physical structure limitations, the sensing area of current visual - tactile sensors is limited, and there is still a gap compared with the tactile perception of human skin covering the whole body.
Despite these challenges, visual - tactile sensing technology still shows great potential. The technological maturity and commercialization progress of visual - tactile related enterprises remain to be observed.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Caixin" (ID: mycaijing), author: Liu Fen, editor: Jiang Shizhou, reprinted with permission by 36Kr.