Tencent Invests RMB 50 Mln in Humanoid Robot Developer Leju Robot
36Kr.com, 8/04/17
Shenzhen-based humanoid robot developer Leju Robotics (Leju Robot) recently announced completion of RMB 50 mln in new funding from Chinese internet and mobile services firm Tencent (0700.HK), which will mainly be used for new product development and marketing.
Leju Robot, founded in March 2016, specializes in developing humanoid robots. It has released two product lines, Aelos and Talos, which are used for educational and service robot applications, respectively. The Aelos product line is currently the company's main source of revenue, while the Talos line is intended to generate future growth.
The Aelos product line is designed for children and technology enthusiasts. It can be used for entertainment or for educational purposes. The robot features 17 degrees of freedom and can be programmatically controlled to perform different actions.
Leju Robot has also partnered with Beijing-based Guangnian Wuxian Technology, maker of intelligent question-answering robot Turing Robot, to access the company's voice interaction system, which features emotional engine technology. Leju Robot has set up an online forum where users can share stories about interacting with Leju Robot products, and it operates a cloud platform that pushes popular music and other entertainment content to Aelos devices. The robots are also equipped with sensors that allow them to respond to various types of touch with different emotional reactions.
Leju Robot previously completed RMB 8-digit funding from Green Pine Capital Partners and Shenzhen Capital Group.
Keywords: Leju Robot funding M&A hardware Tencent 0700.HK Turing Robot robot Guangnian Wuxian