Robot Era

星动纪元 / 北京星动纪元科技有限公司

A Beijing-based embodied-AI robotics startup developing humanoid robot bodies, wheeled service robots, and dexterous hands for research and industrial automation.

Private company
Profile as of September 14, 2026
Not ranked: no published revenue or market capitalisation
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Robot Era is a well-funded Chinese embodied-AI company with a credible research origin and a broad humanoid product range. Its central tension is that while it presents evidence of hardware delivery and customer adoption, it does not disclose the financial or unit-economics data needed to establish whether those deployments are scalable and profitable.

Key figures

Revenue: Not disclosed
Revenue growth: Not disclosed
Operating margin: Not disclosed
Net income: Not disclosed
R&D spend: Not disclosed
Capital expenditure: Not disclosed
Cumulative product deliveries 2025 by June: More than 200
Overseas order share July 2025: More than 50%
Latest private valuation March 2026: More than RMB 10 billion
Total capital raised July 2026: More than RMB 4.0 billion

Overview

Robot Era was founded in 2023 as a commercialization effort emerging from Tsinghua University's Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences. The Beijing-based startup develops the physical-agent stack required for embodied artificial intelligence, including humanoid robot bodies, wheeled service robots, dexterous hands, and motion-control software. Its core product lines include the L7 full-size bipedal humanoid, the Q5 wheeled service humanoid, and the XHAND series of direct-drive dexterous hands.

Rather than competing in foundation models or semiconductor design, Robot Era provides the physical infrastructure that allows AI models to interact with the real world. The company serves research institutions, technology companies, and industrial users, positioning its hardware as a platform for both executing tasks and collecting real-world manipulation data. While it has secured substantial venture and state-linked financing, it remains a private, early-stage enterprise navigating a crowded domestic robotics market.

The AI angle

Robot Era earns revenue by supplying the physical embodiments and manipulation hardware required for AI models to act in the physical world. Its direct-drive dexterous hands, such as the XHAND series, are particularly important because they provide both manipulation capability and a critical source of real-world interaction data for robot-learning systems.

AI demand reaches the company through the physical-agent layer rather than through semiconductor sales or cloud computing. Research laboratories purchase its robot platforms and dexterous hands to train and evaluate embodied models. Industrial users purchase its robot systems for material handling, sorting, scanning, and related logistics tasks. The company also uses deployed systems and teleoperation to generate data that can improve manipulation and embodied-model performance.

Robot Era states that nine of the world's ten most valuable technology companies are customers, though it does not name all nine or disclose contract values. Public disclosures do not quantify revenue attributable to AI-model training, logistics, service robotics, or overseas customers separately, making its exact financial exposure to AI infrastructure difficult to measure.

Technology and moat

Robot Era's technical proposition is an integrated physical-agent stack rather than a single humanoid chassis. It combines bipedal locomotion, wheeled service mobility, direct-drive dexterous hands, teleoperation, control software, and embodied-model work. Its direct-drive hand architecture reduces the mechanical transmission complexity of some conventional robotic hands and is presented by the company as uniquely suited to reinforcement-learning-based manipulation.

The company's practical differentiation is strongest where a task needs both whole-body movement and hand-level manipulation, such as industrial sorting or retail service. A competitor must replicate reliable hardware integration, safety performance, actuator and hand design, teleoperation workflows, data capture, and field validation.

However, these barriers are not unique to Robot Era. China's humanoid sector includes several well-funded companies pursuing similar hardware-software integration, and many customers can run pilots across competing platforms. The lack of disclosed patent totals, production yields, or unit economics limits external verification of its technical moat relative to better-disclosed rivals.

Five-pillar assessment

Scale and market position: A well-funded early-stage humanoid developer with more than 200 reported deliveries by mid-2025, but lacking the disclosed shipment volume and financial transparency of its largest domestic competitors.
Technology and R&D: Differentiates through an integrated physical-agent stack, direct-drive dexterous hands, and a strong research-to-industrial embodied-AI focus originating from Tsinghua University.
Supply-chain centrality: Secures deployments with major research institutions and logistics operators like SF Group, though specific component and semiconductor suppliers remain undisclosed.
Financial momentum: Rapidly expanding financing base with over RMB 4 billion raised by mid-2026 and a valuation exceeding RMB 10 billion, driven by strong reported overseas order demand.
Governance and quality: Privately held with opaque financial reporting, heavily influenced by Tsinghua University and state-linked capital, which supports domestic growth but raises geopolitical scrutiny abroad.

Supply chain and relationships

Robot Era depends on externally sourced components common to humanoid production, including actuators, motors, reducers, sensors, compute modules, batteries, high-performance semiconductors, and machine-vision components. Specific production suppliers for these inputs are not disclosed, though the company claims that more than 95% of its hardware is self-developed.

On the customer side, Robot Era sells or deploys products with research institutions, technology companies, and logistics users. Publicly named users or deployment counterparts include MIT, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, ByteDance Robotics Lab, Beizi Technology, Haier Smart Home, Lenovo, Century Golden Resources, SF Group, and China Post. The company also claims adoption by NVIDIA, Apple, and Boston Dynamics. Customer names are partly public, but Robot Era does not disclose a complete customer list, revenue concentration, or recurring-service revenue, leaving its downstream dependencies opaque.

Customers

SF GroupRobots reported to work in SF logistics centers
China PostL7 humanoids reported to operate in logistics centers
MITRobot systems used as embodied-AI research platforms
Stanford UniversityRobot systems used as embodied-AI research platforms
University of California, BerkeleyRobot systems used as embodied-AI research platforms
ByteDanceRobot systems used for robotics and embodied-AI research
NVIDIAHardware adopted by NVIDIA
AppleHardware adopted by Apple
Boston DynamicsHardware adopted by Boston Dynamics

Partners

Beizi TechnologySTAR1 performs material handling and sorting training in factory settings
Haier Smart HomeQ5 service robots used for retail and service-scenario training
LenovoQ5 service robots used for retail and service-scenario training
Century Golden ResourcesQ5 service robots used for service and retail-oriented deployments

Competitors

Unitree RoboticsInferredCompetes in humanoid robots and embodied-AI hardware
UBTECH RoboticsInferredCompetes in industrial and service humanoid deployment in China
AgiBotInferredCompetes in Chinese general-purpose humanoid robots and enterprise deployments
Fourier IntelligenceInferredDevelops humanoid hardware for industrial and service use cases
GalbotInferredDevelops general-purpose embodied-AI and manipulation systems

Geopolitics and risk

Robot Era's robots require high-performance compute, GPUs, perception hardware, and potentially foreign-origin components that can be affected by United States export controls on China-bound advanced AI hardware. With more than 50% of its orders reported as coming from overseas customers in 2025, the company faces significant exposure to export licensing, customer procurement restrictions, data-security scrutiny, and cross-border service logistics.

Domestically, Robot Era benefits from its Tsinghua University origins and state-linked capital backing, which improve access to engineering talent, pilot sites, and enterprise budgets. However, this state-affiliated equity and industrial backing can increase geopolitical scrutiny for some overseas customers and partners. The company must balance its reliance on international research and technology customers with the realities of operating as a state-influenced Chinese robotics developer in a restricted technology environment.

Risk matrix
Risk	Severity	Why it matters
Advanced-compute export controls	High	Robots require high-performance compute and GPUs that can be affected by U.S. export controls.
Semiconductor supply dependence	High	Undisclosed chip and sensor suppliers leave exposure to procurement disruption difficult to quantify.
Private-company financial opacity	High	Lack of disclosed revenue and unit economics limits assessment of sustainable growth.
Humanoid-unit economics	High	Deployments remain largely pilots, and robots require expensive actuators, sensors, and maintenance.
Competition and price compression	High	Multiple Chinese humanoid developers compete for the same capital, components, and enterprise budgets.
Overseas-customer execution	Medium	High overseas order share creates exposure to export licensing, data-security scrutiny, and service logistics.
Customer concentration	Medium	Customer identities and sales shares are not fully disclosed, so concentration could be material.
Safety, liability, and regulation	Medium	Industrial humanoids operate near people, so safety incidents or regulations can delay deployments.

Governance and ownership

Robot Era is a privately held company and does not publish audited annual reports, a complete cap table, board roster, or formal governance report. It is described as a Tsinghua University-held or Tsinghua-origin enterprise, with founder and CEO Chen Jianyu serving as an assistant professor at the university.

While not publicly described as a state-owned enterprise, it is state-influenced, with equity held by Tsinghua and participation from state-linked capital such as China Chengtong Fund. The reported investor base also includes CDH VGC, Haier Capital, Sequoia China, IDG Capital, and Geely Capital. Ownership percentages, board seats, and governance rights are not disclosed, resulting in high financial and operational opacity.

What to watch

Whether Robot Era publishes annual revenue, gross margin, or audited financial statements as its financing scales.
Whether it converts reported deliveries into recurring fleet deployments rather than research pilots.
Whether logistics deployments with SF Group and China Post expand to named sites and multi-year contracts.
Whether the company identifies the nine global technology-company customers it claims to serve.
Whether overseas orders remain above 50% amid evolving export-control rules and security reviews.
Whether the L7 and XHAND product family demonstrates verifiable uptime and total cost of ownership in commercial settings.

Recent developments

July 2026Announced a further RMB 1.0 billion financing led by China Chengtong Fund.
April 2026Announced financing of more than US$200 million led by SF Group.
March 2026Reported RMB 1.0 billion of strategic financing and a valuation above RMB 10 billion.
January 2026Presented the L7, Q5, and XHAND products at a public event, reporting that overseas business represents more than 50% of orders.
November 2025Public reporting described a US$140 million Series A+ financing.
July 2025Announced a nearly RMB 500 million Series A financing and reported more than 200 cumulative product deliveries in 2025 as of June.

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About this profile

Compiled with AI-assisted research from company filings, market data, and published reporting as of September 14, 2026, then reviewed by AsiaAI.FYI. Figures marked Estimate are not company-reported. Check primary filings before relying on any number.

Confidence: D. Product lines, founder identity, financing rounds, and selected partners have public corroboration, but financial performance, unit economics, and manufacturing capacity are opaque because the company is private.

Main sources: Company website and product pages; Company and investor announcements; Chinese financial press; Technology-industry press; Research and robotics-industry publications; Private-company database entries.

All 38 sources

Position in the AI stack

Provides the physical robot bodies, dexterous hands, and manipulation data that allow embodied AI models to interact with the real world.

Legal name: Beijing Robot Era Technology Co., Ltd.
Headquarters: Beijing, China
Founded: 2023
Founders: Chen Jianyu / 陈建宇
Leadership: Chen Jianyu / 陈建宇, Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Ownership: Private company
Business: Humanoid robots, wheeled service robots, dexterous hands, and embodied-AI software
Sector: AI Software & Models
Industrial Automation & Robotics
Website: robotera.com