Zhiyu Puts $28M and 1,000+ Robots into 20+ Universities to Train Embodied AI Engineers
新智元 · wechat · 2026-10-19
Chinese robotics firm Zhiyu (Agibot) is investing RMB 200M ($28M) to place over 1,000 real robots plus software platforms and compute into 20+ top universities including Tsinghua, SJTU and SCUT — the first tranche of a five-year, RMB 2B+ ecosystem plan.
- Tsinghua pilot: In a 45-hour course, undergrads teleoperate G1 robots via VR to collect folding data, train DiffusionPolicy, fine-tune VLA/RDT models, and must deploy to real robots for their final exam.
- Why now: Embodied intelligence entered the ministry's undergrad catalog in April; universities lack both curriculum and physical robots, forcing courses to stay in simulation.
- The RMB 2B splits into research (30%), education (20%), ecosystem partners (30%), and developer community (20%), with 10-15 prize-funded open research challenges and incubation slots across seven deployment scenarios.
- Company scale: 10,000th robot rolled off the line this March; revenue grew from RMB 300K in year one to over RMB 1B in 2025. CEO Deng Taihua frames 2026 as the shift from dev-mode to deployment-mode, aiming for a RMB 10B+ revenue robot market.
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