Hard Krypton Exclusive | Team from Beihang University's Institute of Robotics Launches Startup, Pioneers Intelligent Variable Stiffness Joint, and Secures Nearly 100 Million Yuan in Angel Round Financing
Hard Krypton has learned that recently, Hangmo Technology completed an angel round of investment of nearly 100 million yuan from Zhongtou Wanfang, Sanxian Technology, Beihang Tianhui, Chengmei Capital, Sanhe Investment, and Changzhou Jinkong. DT Capital served as the long - term strategic financing advisor. This financing is mainly used for product R & D and market promotion.
Hangmo Technology was founded in 2022. It is a high - tech company focusing on the R & D and implementation of intelligent variable - stiffness joint technology and consumer - grade intelligent exoskeletons. Its core technology comes from a key R & D project of the Robotics Institute of Beihang University.
The company's founder, Dai Wanhui, is a master from the Robotics Institute of Beihang University and an MBA from Tsinghua University. He once served as the project leader of the 863 Program at the Robotics Institute of Beihang University and was in charge of the new retail business of household rehabilitation equipment. The "medical device - medicine linkage" new model he created has over ten million users. CTO Luan Sheng is a doctor and post - doctor from Beihang University and a visiting scholar at the University of Bologna in Italy. He has long been engaged in the research of robot modules, robots in the medical and health field, and AI technology.
Dai Wanhui introduced that the core product of Hangmo is mainly the variable - stiffness intelligent joint module FlexmoJoint. With the development of humanoid robots, the joint module market is quite large. According to research reports, the global robot joint module market size will be about 10 billion US dollars in 2025, and the Chinese robot joint market size is expected to exceed 64 billion yuan by 2030.
The intelligent variable - stiffness joint independently developed by Hangmo Technology starts from the different kinematic and dynamic characteristics of human joints to develop intelligent joint products suitable for specific scenarios. It is the first in China to achieve the anti - impact, energy recovery, and diverse stiffness capabilities of robot joints. Its products can achieve compliant protection in case of accidents, reduce the external force estimation error by 23%, and reduce energy consumption by 31.2%. The flexible drive + low - cost motor + multi - mode switching control technology also significantly reduces the joint cost.
On this basis, another core product of Hangmo Technology is a variety of intelligent robots developed in cooperation according to customer scenario requirements, including humanoid robots, robotic arms, robot dogs, etc., covering industries and scenarios such as industry, consumer, medical rehabilitation, and special applications.
In addition, one major application of the variable - stiffness joint is the intelligent knee exoskeleton IRMO M1 for the outdoor field to be launched in 2025, which is also the world's first AI exoskeleton with visual perception and all - terrain adaptation. The crowdfunding amount has reached 7 million yuan. This exoskeleton robot can intelligently fuse the camera and lidar to identify multiple terrains such as grasslands, sand, slopes, and steps within milliseconds, with a maximum field of view of 120° and a maximum scanning range of 2.5 meters. Its original intelligent joint can also provide real - time intelligent buffering to protect the joints, making running, jumping, and sharp - turning movements more stable.
The following is an excerpt from Hard Krypton's interview with Dai Wanhui:
Hard Krypton: The main feature of Hangmo's core product is the intelligent variable - stiffness joint. Can you explain the characteristics and technical barriers of the variable - stiffness joint?
Dai Wanhui: The variable - stiffness solution is the ultimate bionics solution. The rigidity of its elastomer material is dynamically adjustable under various working conditions. Just like a human, when the load is large, the joint support force is strong; when the load is small, the joint will not be elastically stretched. It realizes the physical simulation of human - like motion joints and can achieve self - perception, self - adaptation, and self - adjustment compared with traditional joints.
However, there are also certain difficulties in its R & D. For example, the material and structural science need to be matched. It is necessary to find the most suitable material solution among spring steel, titanium alloy, composite materials, etc. according to the mechanical characteristics of different joints. In addition, it is also necessary to achieve the integration of sensing, touching, and control. The variable - stiffness joint needs to sense the load pressure and switch states at any time. The sensing and control need to be integrated to make the robot joint make corresponding changes under different circumstances. Finally, there is also the problem of motion control algorithms. Elastic materials are prone to generate shock waves. The most difficult part is to achieve high - precision control under various circumstances, to make it "stop immediately when required and move immediately when required" and avoid the "Parkinson - like" phenomenon caused by the simultaneous jitter of multiple joints.
Hard Krypton: Another product of Hangmo is the industrial embodied solution to develop intelligent robots in cooperation with customers. In which scenarios has it developed so far?
Dai Wanhui: At present, the industrial embodied robots we have developed have been put into practice in factories. The variable - stiffness joint Flexmo has the characteristics of high - precision force perception and passive deformation, which is very suitable for scenarios with human - robot interaction. Therefore, the first application scenario we have broken through is the human - robot collaborative robot in industrial collaboration. Because it has a "safety insurance mechanism" of physical passive deformation at the hardware level, it will stop immediately when it encounters a human to ensure the safety of humans and robots.
Hard Krypton: The IRMO M1 is the world's first AI exoskeleton robot with visual perception and all - terrain adaptation. Can you specifically talk about the meaning of visual perception and all - terrain AI?
Dai Wanhui: A commercially successful product must be for daily use. Although there are relatively mature solutions in the military and medical fields, we hope to provide all - terrain and all - scenario solutions for more daily - use scenarios. And sports people have a strong demand for joint protection, assistance, and sports quantitative analysis, so we entered this field.
We introduced the robot's autonomous perception awareness. Through the camera, the exoskeleton can identify terrain changes such as steps, slopes, grasslands, and sand, and adjust the force - giving strategy and protection strategy accordingly. Everyone's sports habits (such as gait and leg shape) are different. The AI ability is reflected in "self - learning". Our independently developed EPA (Exteroception + Proprioception + Action) large - model algorithm can make personalized logical distributions according to different users' habits to achieve gait adaptation. The AI will also automatically analyze sports data, such as evaluating the degree of joint wear and whether the force is standard, and give professional analysis suggestions.
Hard Krypton: The delay of cloud - based large models is usually in the second level, but industrial production requires millisecond - level response. How does Hangmo achieve "autonomous feedback adjustment" quickly?
Dai Wanhui: In the industrial scenario, we adopt the strategy of "using flexibility to control flexibility". We use the physical passive deformation characteristics of the flexible joint. When it touches an object, the mechanical structure will bounce back first. The passive response speed at the hardware level is higher than that of software perception. Before the motor senses and activates the software strategy, the physical structure has provided a buffer to avoid direct breakage or damage of materials like a rigid robot, thus solving the problem of flexible material operation under high - response conditions.
Hard Krypton: In the wiring harness assembly solution, there are many types of automotive wiring harnesses. How can the robot quickly learn new working conditions? Is the data source based on real wiring harness operation data collected from the factory or simulated training in a virtual environment?
Dai Wanhui: Wiring harnesses are flexible materials, and it is difficult to conduct simulation training. So our data source is the real wiring harness induction data directly collected from the factory. By collecting real data, we form a standardized induction processing solution library, which is used to solve the implementation problems in the diversified scenarios of wiring harnesses.
Hard Krypton: Next, what are Hangmo's plans and development goals in terms of the market, products, etc.?
Dai Wanhui: Hangmo will continue to consolidate the technical foundation based on flexible embodiment, form flexible industry barriers in some special scenarios or industries such as wiring harness assembly, electronic component assembly, and the clothing industry, and generalize our industrial - end solution capabilities. In addition, we also hope to establish an ecosystem similar to the "Apple Watch" and provide value - added services through the joint motion data collected by the exoskeleton.
We hope to form our own application scenarios, models, and automation capabilities in the field of flexible embodiment, and gradually make the machine a "robot" with an experience similar to or even close to that of a human, rather than just an automated machine.
Investors' views:
Zhao Yang, managing partner of Fenghe Capital: Hangmo Technology was incubated at the Robotics Institute of Beihang University. It is the industrialization result of the decades - long in - depth research and accumulation of the Robotics Institute of Beihang University. We believe that under the leadership of Dai Wanhui, Hangmo Technology will continuously improve in productization, making the robot flexible joint technology truly enter thousands of households and empower all industries, achieving a two - way breakthrough in scientific research value and industrial value.
Partner of Gaochuang Zhixing Fund: Relying on the more than 20 - year deep technical accumulation of the Robotics Institute of Beihang University, Hangmo Technology targets the two high - potential tracks of exoskeletons and robot joints, builds a core technical barrier with flexible joint modules, and carefully polishes products down - to - earth. The market expansion is solid and stable. With its strong R & D strength and clear growth path, the project has been highly recognized by many investors, including us, and has started to promote the application and implementation of Hangmo's robot body in industrial scenarios.