The Belt

Deep-sea robotics maker DeepOcean Intelligence closes over RMB 500 million Series A as BYD joins the cap table

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When prominent investor Zhu Xiaohu exited humanoid-robot projects in bulk and turned to Harbin-Engineering-line Shanghai Hang Intelligent, deep-sea robotics returned to the venture spotlight. But another Harbin-Engineering-line dark horse, DeepOcean Intelligence, has carved a faster commercial path in industrial deep sea through hard tech and delivery. As the cradle of China’s marine-equipment talent, Harbin Engineering … Read more

XTRON Robotics closes several-tens-of-million-yuan A1 round for hazardous-industry embodied AI

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On 1 September, XTRON Robotics (XTRONROBOT), which focuses on special-industrial embodied intelligence, announced a several-tens-of-million-yuan Series A1 round. Investors include Qianhai Ark, Westlake Sci-tech Innovation Fund and Guangyang Co. The proceeds will go mainly to iterating the XBOT-AEGIS embodied-intelligence system, developing multi-form special-purpose embodied robots, and expanding domestic and overseas markets. XTRON was formally founded … Read more

US warehouse-robotics unicorn Locus closes USD 41.6 million G round as old backers double down

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Embodied Emergence has learned that Locus Robotics, the US warehouse autonomous-mobile-robot (AMR) unicorn, has closed a USD 41.6 million (about RMB 280 million) Series G round. Every dollar in this round came from existing shareholders. The process is not yet closed, and the company has not disclosed its fundraising target, the full investor list, use … Read more

Mech-Mind Robotics opens Hong Kong IPO with Baillie Gifford and Jane Street as cornerstone backers

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Founded in 2016, Mech-Mind Robotics is a supplier of core intelligent-robotics components rather than a full robot OEM, providing standardised “eye-brain-hand” modules for robots of different forms. Its Mech-Eye industrial 3D camera captures spatial data; Mech-Vision and Mech-Viz software handle recognition, decision and motion planning; and it is extending into the Mech-GPT multimodal model and … Read more

Shenzhen exoskeleton maker Maisi Robotics closes nearly RMB 100 million round as Lenovo backs it for the fourth time

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Shenzhen Maisi Robotics Technology has completed a new strategic financing round of nearly RMB 100 million, with CSC Financial, a “state-backed” institution, as investor, 36Kr reported. The round accelerates product iteration and the rollout of frontier directions such as brain-computer interfaces, and extends coverage to the “last mile” of rehab from hospital to community to … Read more

Shenzhen opens 19 private-capital projects worth over RMB 90 billion as it courts outside investment

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On 31 August 2026, Shenzhen held the roadshow for its second 2026 batch of projects open to private capital, in the Nanshan district. Nineteen projects with a combined investment of more than RMB 90 billion (about USD 12.6 billion) were opened to private capital, drawing more than 100 private firms, state-owned enterprises, and investment and … Read more

Nine carmakers recall over 7 million vehicles in China

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On 21 August, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a cluster of recall notices. Dongfeng, XPeng, Leapmotor, Chery, Geely, Tesla, Xiaomi, BAIC BluePark and FAW, nine carmakers in total, recalled about 7.0164 million vehicles. Nine carmakers announced mass recalls the same day, led by Tesla and domestic brands. Of these, about 4.2757 million vehicles, … Read more

Pony.ai and Uber plan 2,000 Robotaxis across five European cities

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On 19 August, Pony.ai and global mobility platform Uber announced a further expansion of their strategic cooperation, planning to deploy over 2,000 Pony.ai Robotaxis across five European cities, one of the largest Robotaxi deployment plans in Europe and taking Pony’s overseas deployment plan past 4,000 vehicles in total. The expansion with Uber will extend from … Read more

Naochi Times closes seed round for non-invasive brain-computer interface

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Gasgoo Embodied Intelligence has learned that Naochi Times (Shanghai) Technology, or “Naochi Times”, recently closed a tens-of-millions-yuan seed round led by Yuanhe Puhua. The company said the proceeds will mainly build its first-generation multi-function motor brain-computer interface product “Omni One”, advance self-developed non-invasive high-throughput ultrasound BCI systems and pre-clinical validation, and expand core engineering and … Read more

Hyundai strike breaks out over robot fears, a world first

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A world first. After 16 rounds of talks between the union and management stalled, the long-brewing strike at South Korea’s Hyundai Motor finally erupted in full. Unlike earlier small gestures of leaving two hours early, this was real: an eight-hour full strike, Hyundai’s first since 2016 a decade ago, involving more than 39,000 union members. … Read more