How wild the embodied intelligence sector will be in 2026 is evident—some companies have raised single rounds of 2 billion or even 3 billion yuan, with financing figures becoming more and more astonishing. A few days ago, IT Juzi released the latest "China Embodied Intelligence Entrepreneur Ecosystem Profile Report," which has attracted significant attention from readers.
In this wave of enthusiasm, we’ve also noticed a striking force: the academic community. How do we define “the academic community”?
Not referring to universities supplying graduates as talent, but rather universities directly founding or incubating embodied AI companies.
Can you imagine? Professors are no longer just buried in labs conducting research or publishing papers in top journals—they’re now registering companies, becoming founders or co-founders, raising funding, and even managing production lines. And this isn’t just an isolated trend.
According to IT Juzi, more than 70 companies in the embodied intelligence space have founding teams with members who currently hold or have previously held professorships at universities; however, the definition of “academic” I’m referring to here is more stringent:
The first category includes founders who are professors currently employed at a university while also founding a startup, and who can leverage resources and support from their alma mater—especially when the university holds direct equity, which is more typical. This does not include cases where professors are merely appointed as advisors or chief scientists.
The second category consists of embodied AI companies that are platform-based outcomes of universities, research institutes, or laboratories, representing another facet of the academic approach.
Therefore, based on this criterion, I have compiled a list of 18 "academic" embodied AI companies.
How capable are these companies led by university professors and incubated by research institutes?
The disclosed funding data we have compiled indicates that, over the first eight months of 2026, these 18 academic-inspired embodied AI startups have raised approximately RMB 15 billion in total funding (estimated), with more than RMB 13 billion explicitly disclosed.
They have taken up the banner of academic embodied intelligence and emerged as a core force in this field.
Now, we will categorize these companies into two main groups. The first group consists of companies whose core founders or co-founders are affiliated with prestigious universities, including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, and other top-tier 985/211 institutions.
The second category consists of direct incubations by universities or research institutes, such as Westlake University, Tsinghua AIR, Baidu AI Lab, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Looking at them individually makes it clearer.
When a professor from a top-tier university takes the lead and dives in personally
Professor 985 has personally entered the entrepreneurial space—companies focused on embodied intelligence, though not numerous, naturally attract the most attention. Founders often hold professorial titles and are motivated by the goal of translating academic research into commercial applications.
Xingdong Jiyuan, backed by Tsinghua University, is a prime example, specializing in humanoid robot bodies. Its founder, Chen Jianyu, is an Assistant Professor at Tsinghua University’s Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences and a Ph.D. graduate from the University of California, Berkeley. Founded in August 2023 as a spin-off from the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, the company completed a RMB 1 billion Series B funding round in July 2026, becoming a unicorn in just over two years.
The Tsinghua University team also includes Accelerated Evolution, which is developing humanoid robot bodies.
The company was founded in June 2023 by a team from Professor Zhao Mingguo’s humanoid robotics lab at Tsinghua University’s Department of Automation, with CEO Cheng Hao overseeing commercialization. In April 2026, Accelerated Evolution completed a RMB 1 billion Series B round, entering the unicorn status.
The representative embodied intelligence company from Peking University is Galaxy General, pursuing an integrated approach of "embodied multimodal large models + general-purpose humanoid robot platforms." The founder, Wang He, is also currently an Assistant Professor at the Center for Frontier Computing Research, School of Computer Science, Peking University.
The company was established in May 2023, secured an 1.1 billion RMB funding round led by CATL in June 2025, and completed a further 2.5 billion RMB B+ round in March 2026. Last year, Galaxy General opened a smart retail store in Haidian, deploying humanoid robots to perform tasks.
The embodied intelligence company founded by a professor from Zhejiang University is DeepRobotics, specializing in quadruped and humanoid robots, with strengths in power inspection and emergency rescue. The founder, Zhu Qiuguo, is an associate professor and PhD supervisor at Zhejiang University. The company was established earlier, starting in Hangzhou in 2017, and is one of the “Six Little Dragons of Hangzhou.”
In July 2025, Yunshen Deep completed a nearly RMB 500 million funding round led by Dacheng Capital and China National New Capital, followed by a Pre-IPO round in December. Among this group of professor-founded companies, Yunshen Deep was the first to successfully achieve commercialization.
The representative company of Shanghai Jiao Tong University is Qiongche Intelligence, which does not manufacture robot hardware but focuses exclusively on embodied intelligence algorithms.
Founder Lu Cewu is Vice Dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a Changjiang Scholar. The company was established in November 2023 and developed its proprietary Noematrix Brain. In June 2026, Noematrix Intelligence completed a funding round of hundreds of millions of yuan, with investors including the Shanghai Jiao Tong University AI Future Fund and a wholly owned subsidiary of Shanghai Chuangzhi Academy.
The representative from Southern University of Science and Technology is Zhiyi Dynamics, which develops general-purpose humanoid robot platforms.
Founder Zhang Wei is a tenured professor at Southern University of Science and Technology and previously served as a tenured professor at The Ohio State University in the United States, with over a decade of research experience in humanoid robotics. The company was established in 2022, completed a $200 million Series B round in February 2026, and raised nearly another $200 million in a Pre-IPO round in July, achieving a valuation of RMB 15 billion. Its shareholders include Alibaba, SAIC Motor, NIO, JD.com, and others.
More notably, nearly 70% of this funding round came from overseas institutions, with capital from the Middle East and Europe betting on China’s humanoid robotics sector.
The representative embodied intelligence company incubated by Fudan University is Moushen Intelligence, which develops generative and lightweight general embodied AI brains at the algorithm layer. Co-founder Chen Tao is a professor at Fudan University and director of the Deep Learning Laboratory. The company was established in January 2025 and recently completed a RMB 500 million Pre-A+ round in August 2026.
From MouShen Intelligence and QiongChe Intelligence to DeTa Intelligence and XingYuan Intelligence, nearly all are vying for the ecological niche of embodied brains, indicating that the focus of competition in embodied intelligence is shifting from the “body” to the “brain.”
The representative company from Xi'an Jiaotong University is UAI Robotics, which specializes in industrial mobile robots (wheeled, non-humanoid) for factory logistics and intelligent inspection. The founding team, including Zhang Zhaohui, all hail from Xi'an Jiaotong University, and their advisor, Mei Xuesong, is a distinguished scholar in the field of mechanical engineering.
Founded in 2017, the company’s products are applied in material handling for semiconductor, new energy, and 3C manufacturing facilities, as well as inspection scenarios in conduits, switchrooms, and substations. Youyi Zhihe has raised RMB 150 million in its Series C round and has been recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as a “Little Giant” enterprise specializing in niche markets. This company takes a more pragmatic approach—first generate revenue, then address form factors.
The representative company of Harbin Institute of Technology is Lujù, which develops large humanoid robots. Founded in 2016 by Leng Xiaokun, who has a background from Harbin Institute of Technology, it is among the earliest companies in China to focus on large humanoid robots. The core team is based in Shenzhen and Harbin, with all members holding master’s or doctoral degrees in computer science, mechanical engineering, and mathematics from Harbin Institute of Technology.
In October 2025, AIBOT completed a RMB 1.5 billion Pre-IPO round led by a consortium of over ten institutions including Shenzhen Investment Holdings Capital, Longhua Capital, and CITIC Jinshi, bringing its total funding to over RMB 1.7 billion. AIBOT’s “Kuafu” series has established ecosystems with more than 40 companies, including Huawei, Tencent, China Mobile, and China FAW. AIBOT’s distinguishing strength is its focus on mass production—while competitors are still showcasing prototypes, AIBOT has already begun small-scale deliveries.
Additionally, several companies are often categorized as or claim to be “university incubated,” but strictly speaking, they are not.
For example, Qianxing Technology was previously affiliated with Zhejiang University but has since withdrawn; Moce Intelligence is a project incubated by Tsinghua University’s X-Lab, but X-Lab is an internal startup incubator under Tsinghua’s School of Economics and Management, primarily serving students and alumni, with no direct ongoing relationship between the project and Tsinghua University after incubation.
A new research institute is currently incubating startups at scale.
If the first type involves professors starting their own ventures with support from universities, the second type consists of research institutions and academies directly spinning off their teams and platform achievements into standalone companies with formal registration. These companies also enjoy equally high levels of investment interest.
Tsinghua University's Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Industry (AIR) incubated QiuZhi Technology, with Zhang Yaqin serving as its director.
Qiu Zhi Technology develops mobile lifting dual-arm robot platforms (non-humanoid), focusing on research training and commercial service applications. In 2026, Qiu Zhi Technology completed a $100 million-plus seed round, with eight institutions jointly investing.
Founder Zhou Guyue holds a Ph.D. from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and was a student of Li Zexiang. He was an early core member of DJI, joined Tsinghua University’s AIR as an associate professor in 2020, and commercialized his lab’s research outcomes in 2023.
Beijing General Artificial Intelligence Institute (BIGAI) also incubated Delta Intelligence.
Delta Intelligence specializes in embodied intelligence foundation models and data infrastructure. The company has launched the Delta D1, a wearable full-body data capture device that collects motion data while users perform normal tasks.
Delta Intelligence was founded in January 2026 and secured nearly RMB 500 million in a Seed++ round by July, completing six funding rounds within six months. The founder, Ma Xiaojian, holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Tsinghua University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. He previously worked at Google Robotics and NVIDIA Research before joining BIGAI as a researcher.
The Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (abbreviated as BAAI, China’s national platform in the field of large AI models) has incubated Xingyuan Intelligence.
StarSource Intelligence is dedicated to embodied brain models and integrated software-hardware architectures (brain + high-performance edge hardware) deployed across ontologies. Founded in August 2025, the company raised RMB 1 billion within 10 months, including RMB 200 million in seed funding, over RMB 100 million in seed-plus and Pre-A rounds. StarSource Intelligence’s integrated software-hardware solutions now serve over 70% of leading embodied AI companies and it is NVIDIA’s largest global distributor of Jetson Thor.
Tsinghua University also co-founded Lingcifang in collaboration with the Jianghuai Frontier Technology Collaborative Innovation Center.
Zeroth focuses on generalized grasping algorithms and has launched a wheeled humanoid robot platform, following an "algorithm + platform" integration approach. The company is registered in Hefei and completed a financing round exceeding RMB 100 million in April 2026, led by Runze Group. Zeroth’s generalized grasping technology does not require custom programming for specific objects—its robots can autonomously determine the optimal grasping method for unfamiliar items. The ZERITH-H1 wheeled humanoid robot was fully assembled and exported to Malaysia in 2026.
The representative from Beijing Institute of Technology is Ligong Huahui, which develops humanoid robot bodies and core components (such as joints and actuators). Founded in 2015, the company completed a nearly RMB 100 million Pre-A round in May 2026. Beijing Institute of Technology has deep expertise in biomimetic and special-purpose robotics, and Ligong Huahui exemplifies the typical “professor + university-affiliated enterprise” model.
Several other projects incubated by the institute are still in early stages: Zhangyu Technology, incubated by the Shenzhen Academy of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (AIRS), and DeepIntelligence, under the Zhongguancun College system.
Notably, Westlake University has incubated 18 startups, including two leading embodied intelligence companies: Westlake Interaction, spun off from Professor Jiang Hanqing’s Cross-Mechanics Lab at Westlake University, which focuses on embodied intelligence solutions and has launched a flexible variable-stiffness robotic arm; and Westlake Robotics, which is developing autonomous general-purpose humanoid robots and embodied AI systems, founded by Professor Wang Donglin, a tenured professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Artificial Intelligence at Westlake University.
There is also another company, "Siasun New松/Duoke Robotics," which was spun off from the listed company "Siasun Robotics" and is not on the list.
In 2000, the Shenyang Institute of Automation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences established Sinova, China’s first robotics company, named in honor of Academician Jiang Xinsong, known as the "Father of Chinese Robotics." Sinova later listed on the A-share market and became known as the "First Robotics Stock." Specializing in a full range of industrial robot platforms, this established company officially entered the embodied intelligence sector in 2025, launching the "Songyi" wheeled robot and the "Songxing" bipedal humanoid robot, and founding an Institute for Embodied Intelligence.
Zhongke Xinsong completed a hundreds-of-millions-of-yuan A+ round of financing in July 2026. In April 2026, nearly a hundred new large-load industrial robots from Xinsong were deployed on Geely Automobile’s main welding assembly line, marking the first large-scale application of domestically produced spot welding robots on automotive assembly lines.
Tsinghua-affiliated entities have high density, with university-affiliated investment funds simultaneously making investments.
Finally, we summarize several observations within the "Academic School" framework:
First, Tsinghua University has an extremely high presence in the field of embodied intelligence.
Xingdong Ji Yuan, Jiasu Jin Hua, Qiu Zhi Ke Ji, and Lingcifang are all direct spin-offs of Tsinghua University; combined with the strong Tsinghua-Peking influence behind many research institutes, Tsinghua University almost single-handedly supports half of China’s embodied AI industry chain.
The reason is not hard to understand: Tsinghua’s ecosystem features a highly integrated “university—research institute—company” transformation chain, with multiple mature frontier industry experimentation platforms such as the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, AIR, Baidu-Tsinghua AI Research Institute, and the Communications Research Laboratory. Core technologies, talent (professors and students), capital, and application scenarios all exist within the same network.
Second, university funds are beginning to enter the market directly.
The shareholder list of Star Dynamics includes Huakong Technology Transfer Co., Ltd. (Tsinghua Holdings’ technology transfer platform); the Shanghai Jiao Tong University AI Future Fund appears among the investors of Qiongche Intelligence; and the Zhiyuan Institute participated in the financing of Xingyuan Intelligence.
In the past, the relationship between universities and companies was primarily about “licensing or transferring academic papers and patented technologies,” with the flow of technological elements at its core. Today, it has evolved into deep equity-based partnerships and incubation relationships, where technological support from joint laboratories is complemented by capital investment, fully integrating technology, capital, and talent. It was once unimaginable that a university would provide a “startup bonus” to a professor’s newly founded company.
Third, this wave of entrepreneurship has an unprecedented concentration of professors.
This time, the main characters of the AI startup wave are professors who are still in official positions.
In the era of large models, technical barriers lie in data and computing power, which can be overcome through engineering effort; but the barriers to embodied intelligence lie in the physical world—in fields like mechanics, control, and materials, which require over a decade of accumulated expertise, where professors' advantages are even more pronounced.
When "academic school" becomes a label, the academic approach also has clear shortcomings.
Academic thinking and business rhythms are entirely different; many professor-led teams have top-tier technology, but mass production, supply chains, and overseas distribution channels are the real make-or-break factors. Fortunately, leading companies have recognized this and are addressing these gaps through complementary talent development.
We believe embodied intelligence represents an upgrade to China’s model of academic-industrial collaboration. The old model was “publish papers, sell patents, professors keep teaching”; now it’s “professors dive in, research institutes incubate, spin off independent companies, and alma maters take equity stakes.”
As professors who deeply understand the physical world continue to research solutions for physical AI, the development path of embodied intelligence will become even more scientific. This list will only grow longer in the future. And the next professor to start a venture may be in the lab next door to you.
This article is from the WeChat public account "IT Juzi" (ID: itjuzi521), author: Wu Meimei.