Automated loading is one of the least glamorous problems in industrial robotics and one of the hardest, because the truck is the variable nobody controls.
Anhui Qitian Intelligent Technology has closed a Pre-A round worth tens of millions of renminbi. The round was led by an industrial investor, with the Hefei municipal government investment fund following on as an existing shareholder, the Huoqiu industrial fund joining, and a specialised equipment manufacturing and supply chain company taking part.
The investor mix is the signal
The amount is modest by robotics standards. The structure is not. Industrial capital brings scenarios and potential orders, government investment funds help a company land and expand locally, and manufacturing supply chain investors can contribute capacity and process cost reduction.
Three types of capital entering in the same round says something specific: the company has moved from the question of whether the technology works to the question of whether it can be delivered in batches. Earlier backers include Jianling Capital, Guoyao Capital, Anhui Chuanggu Capital and Hefei Innovation Investment.
What the machine does
Qitian was founded in May 2022 and focuses on automated truck loading and unloading, offering customised fully automatic systems. It has logged first-of-its-kind deployments in cold chain food, dairy and chemical products, and has built a scenario database covering more than 1,000 box types and more than 1,000 truck-loading runs.
The team is led by Dr Zhang Jie, an Anhui Craftsman title holder who studied at the University of Science and Technology of China’s School of Engineering Science, alongside specialists in automated loading.
Its T2 system, developed over eight years, combines what the company calls brain, eyes, hands and feet in one unit and has been certified as a major technical equipment item at international advanced level in Anhui.
The numbers are concrete. Two seven-axis arms work in coordination with dynamic path planning at 800 to 1,200 boxes per hour. Payload is 60 kilograms, enough for most boxed and bagged cargo. Vision recognition accuracy is within five millimetres, stacking accuracy within five millimetres, and overall operational accuracy plus or minus one centimetre.
Those figures exist because the trailer is a closed, dynamic and deeply non-standard space. Vehicle models differ, carton specifications differ, cargo arrangements differ, and even the driver’s parking position changes each time.
Acceptance tests rather than demonstrations
In 2024 the company won an order from a leading frozen food manufacturer. In the same year its cigarette carton loading machine passed acceptance at a tobacco group, the first fully automated system of its kind globally. Acceptance data showed net loading efficiency of 920 cartons per hour and comprehensive efficiency of 850, with zero failures and zero carton damage. For an industry as sensitive to breakage as tobacco, the two zeros carry more weight than the speed.
In June 2025 a Qitian embodied loading system went live at a leading food company’s Zhengzhou logistics base, automating everything from pallet depalletising to loose carton loading. On-site data showed loading efficiency up more than 25 per cent, stacking accuracy of 99.99 per cent and elimination of manual handling injury risk.
In November the company won a tender for a fully automated loading system at a large coal chemical enterprise, the first deployment of its kind in that segment. In December its manufacturing base project began construction.
One of those events shows the scenarios widening from food and tobacco into bulk chemicals. The other shows capacity being built to match. Together they mark the crossing from prototype to product.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original OFweek report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience. The full original (in Chinese) is at https://robot.ofweek.com/2026-11/ART-8321202-8120-30711255.html.