The world's first dual-form family robot is developed, and an embodied intelligence company secures tens of millions of yuan in financing | Exclusive report by Hardcore Krypton

Author | Huang Nan

Editor | Yuan Silai

Hard Krypton has learned that Jingzhi Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jingzhi Technology") recently completed tens of millions of yuan in Series A financing. This round was exclusively invested by Ivy Capital. The financing funds will be mainly used for the continuous promotion, iteration, and upgrading of technological R & D, and to accelerate the mass production and market delivery of consumer - grade and industrial - grade robot products. Previously, the company had received strategic financing from Hongrun Times Technology under Hongrun Construction and Kelda.

Founded in May 2024, "Jingzhi Technology" focuses on the R & D breakthrough and scenario - based application of embodied intelligence technology, and specializes in the manufacturing and performance optimization of general robots. The founder and CEO, Wang Hongtao, has educational backgrounds from Tsinghua University and Harvard University and serves as a professor at Zhejiang University. He once led the R & D of the world's first forward - design optimization software for robots. The core team members include industry experts from leading enterprises in the fields of embodied intelligence companies, Internet companies, and consumer electronics industries, with nearly a decade of theoretical foundation and engineering practice experience in robot intrinsic dynamics analysis, controller design, and software - hardware integration.

In early 2025, "Jingzhi Technology", which had been established for only half a year, caught the attention of the robot industry through a CCTV news report. Its developed "Panther 2.0" quadruped robot broke the record of Boston Dynamics' Wildcat, which had stood for more than a decade, with a speed of 10.9 meters per second, surpassing Wildcat's 8.89 meters per second. This pushed the movement limit of quadruped robots to a new height, approaching the speed level of human sprinters, and has attracted wide attention in the industry.

Panther 2.0 quadruped robot (Image source/Company)

In recent years, a number of startup companies in the field of embodied intelligence have emerged from laboratories and moved towards industrialization. Most of these companies rely on cutting - edge achievements from universities or research institutions. With advanced algorithms, bionic structures, and multi - modal interaction as the core, they transform intelligent systems originally limited to experimental environments into robot products that can be applied in real - world scenarios.

As the technological maturity improves and market awareness deepens, the industry has moved beyond the pure technology demonstration stage. From industrial inspection and emergency rescue to home companionship and emotional interaction, embodied intelligence is constantly expanding its application boundaries and entering the commercial exploration period of "scenario - oriented".

Currently, "Jingzhi Technology" has launched three major product portfolios, namely the consumer - grade "Future Home Intelligent Agent" BAOBAO, the industrial - grade Apollo quadruped robot, and the Panther II high - mobility quadruped robot for the education and research market.

As the company's strategic new product this year, BAOBAO is the world's first dual - form robot. Its design is centered around "scenario adaptability", breaking through the limitations of the single form of traditional bipedal and wheeled robots. It has the ability to smoothly switch between humanoid and quadruped forms. Through the flexible conversion of the two forms, it can accurately adapt to diverse home scenarios.

Dual - form robot BAOBAO (Image source/Company)

For example, in the quadruped form, BAOBAO can walk and follow, meeting the user's needs for mobile companionship in spaces such as the living room and bedroom. When switched to the humanoid form, it can also enter scenarios such as static interaction beside the coffee table and close - range communication during children's reading companionship, taking into account both the robot's movement flexibility and the comfortable distance for human - robot interaction.

Wang Hongtao, the CEO of "Jingzhi Technology", told Hard Krypton, "Consumer - end products need to have several characteristics. First, they should be highly integrated, integrating standardized hardware such as cameras, sensors, and speakers. Second, they should be part of daily life. Third, they should be AI - enabled, with intelligence as the core. As a carrier, robots naturally need to meet these three points. The key issues are how to design their forms and what the actual application scenarios are."

The form and hardware design of BAOBAO can be optimized in detail around function implementation. For example, for the gesture interaction function, the design avoids the interference of redundant structures on sensor recognition, ensuring the accuracy of air - operated operations. Considering the emotional companionship needs in the home scenario, the screen on its head can display rich expressions, animations, and visual information, becoming the robot's "face", which is the most direct way to establish an emotional connection and convey emotional states. This "function - oriented" hardware design logic gives it practical value for adapting to multiple scenarios.

In the professional market, current products represented by industrial robots are evolving towards "all - terrain adaptability, long - term battery life, and high load capacity". In response to this trend, "Jingzhi Technology" has launched the Apollo quadruped robot, which is specifically developed for industrial scenarios. It can accurately adapt to complex industrial scenarios such as power inspection, emergency rescue, and factory operations, effectively addressing the long - standing pain points of traditional industrial robots, such as poor terrain adaptability, insufficient battery life, and high maintenance costs.

In terms of core performance, the airborne battery life of the Apollo quadruped robot can reach 5 hours. Even under a 20 - kg load, it can still work continuously for 4 hours, meeting the strict requirements for long - term continuous operation in industrial scenarios. In terms of passability, the robot can easily handle complex unstructured terrains such as long staircases and rocky piles, filling the gap in the operations of traditional wheeled and tracked robots in such environments.

At the same time, Apollo has extremely strong load - bearing capacity. It can bear a standing load of more than 140 kg and a walking load of more than 40 kg, and can operate stably in extremely low - temperature environments. It can be widely applied in industries such as power, mining, and chemical engineering, which have extremely high requirements for equipment reliability. In addition, its modular design significantly improves maintenance efficiency, greatly reducing downtime and operating costs, which meets the core demand of the current industrial field for "cost reduction and efficiency improvement".

Apollo quadruped robot (Image source/Company)

In the field of high - mobility legged robots, the "balance between speed and stability" has always been a technological challenge in the industry. The Panther II quadruped robot of "Jingzhi Technology", which broke the record of Boston Dynamics' WildCat and is currently the world's fastest quadruped robot, is entering scenarios such as special operations and emergency rescue.

Hard Krypton has learned that currently, "Jingzhi Technology" is also promoting its humanoid robot strategy simultaneously. It plans to develop robots that surpass human movement and manipulation abilities within three years, first applying them to dangerous scenarios and then gradually entering factories and households.

For a long time, customers in the industrial market usually have long procurement cycles and strict certification processes, while the consumer market needs to balance cost and demand. In contrast, international leading manufacturers such as Boston Dynamics are still mainly in the stage of laboratory demonstrations or extremely small - scale commercial pilots. Many domestic robot companies, however, are quietly inclined to invest in both the consumer and industrial markets simultaneously, looking for a faster - to - market and more scalable business future by "walking on two legs".

Apollo quadruped robot (Image source/Company)

Wang Hongtao pointed out, "We can push the speed to the limit within a few months, but to enter factories and households, we need stable products, controllable costs, and a mature supply chain." In his view, the advantages of Chinese robot companies lie in their complete industrial chain and the quick response of engineering teams, but they also need to be wary of prematurely cashing in on the industry's popularity.

The choice of "Jingzhi Technology" reflects the thinking of this generation of Chinese robot companies: on the one hand, they break records in the laboratory and explore the performance boundaries; on the other hand, they try to directly enter industrial and household scenarios, seeking breakthroughs in engineering and mass production. Breaking speed records is just the beginning. The more crucial issue is how to transform this extreme performance into reliable products and scalable business paths.

Investor's View:

Ivy Capital said that the long - term development of the embodied intelligence industry is still in its early stage, containing huge investment opportunities. Robot body companies are like original equipment manufacturers in the automotive industry, which can obtain the most substantial profits and benefit from China's strong supply chain and engineer dividend, with the potential to lead globally.

The core reason for investing in Jingzhi Technology lies in its comprehensive strength that is difficult to replicate. First, Jingzhi adheres to the ability of positive body design. Its self - developed robot micro - simulation design software can find the optimal robot configuration solution among complex constraints and goals. Second, it has the self - research ability for high - performance core components, such as integrated joints and dexterous hands, building a hardware advantage. Third, it has the ability to continuously iterate model training. Jingzhi robots can extract posture data from a wide range of animal or human movement videos and improve the model training efficiency through imitation learning and reinforcement learning. Fourth, it has product quality and implementation ability comparable to automotive standards. With its excellent product quality, it has obtained tens of millions of commercial orders. Fifth, backed by the top - notch team of Zhejiang University and the founder's profound technological accumulation over a decade, it ensures the company's long - term development potential. Jingzhi Technology is a rare investment target that combines top - notch academic research, cutting - edge technology, product thinking, and business implementation ability.