Tesla’s car-parts suppliers are quietly becoming robot makers

On 21 September, word that Tesla’s robot team had flown to Ningbo to audit factories lit another fire under China’s embodied-AI race. The visit was not a courtesy call. Suppliers including Tuopu Group, Sanhua Intelligent and Joyson Electronics had already taken humanoid-robot orders for joint modules, actuators and precision structures, and the audit was a … Read more

Tsinghua AIR Founding PhD Launches BASAL Intelligence on Action-Native Embodied Model

LeiPhone WhaleX has learned that Jianxiong Li, the first doctoral graduate of Tsinghua’s Institute for AI Industry (AIR), has founded embodied intelligence company BASAL Intelligence, with a round led by FiveYuan Capital and participation from IVC, Linear Capital and WestSummit Capital. AIR associate professor Xianyuan Zhan serves as chief scientist, with a core team of … Read more

Simplexity Robotics: One Robot Tending Two CNC Lathes at 0.5 mm, 100 per cent Success

Could a robot build the parts needed to assemble a robot? That is the hardest real world test for embodied intelligence. A robot’s joints, chucks and precision structs are cut by CNC lathes and mills. If a robot can tend those machines, grabbing, loading, inserting and removing workpieces, robot production feeds itself: more robots, lower … Read more

Faraday Future Ships 265 EAI Robots in September, Cumulative Total Hits 817

In September, Faraday Future (FFAI) and FFR sold and shipped 265 EAI robot units, a single month record. In the third quarter the robot business moved 575 units, and since late February the cumulative total has reached 817. On 14 October US time, FFAI and FFR plan to launch an education ecosystem brain, Skills products … Read more

Ex-Tesla Optimus AI Lead Ashish Kumar Builds Non-Humanoid Robotics Startup

Ashish Kumar, the engineer who led artificial intelligence for Tesla’s Optimus humanoid, is building a new robotics team, and this time he has chosen a non-humanoid path. Ex-Tesla Optimus AI Lead Ashish Kumar Builds Non-Humanoid Ro (Generated editorial image, Robot Belt) According to Sina Finance on 7 October, Kumar’s co-founded startup Intelligent Machines is based … Read more

UBTECH to Build Its First Robot Base Outside China, in Almaty

UBTECH will build its first robot manufacturing base outside China in Almaty, Kazakhstan. During the Kazakhstan-China Investment Forum, Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met UBTECH vice president Yong Zhong in Almaty and voiced support for the plant, which will become UBTECH’s first production base outside Chinese territory. UBTECH to Build Its First Robot Base Outside China, … Read more

Xiaomi’s next humanoid surfaces: 1.7 metres tall, 66 kg, 66 degrees of freedom

Xiaomi’s next-generation humanoid robot has had its specifications leaked. According to a 19 August report by the National Business Daily, carried via the outlet Farsight, the robot stands about 1.70 metres tall, weighs 66 kg, and carries 66 degrees of freedom, with half of them concentrated in its hands. Xiaomi’s next humanoid surfaces: 1.7 metres … Read more

Inside China’s Embodied-AI Shake-Out: Why the ‘Brain’ Is Eating the ‘Body’

In the first three months of 2026, disclosed funding in China’s embodied AI sector reached about 15 billion yuan, and the count of domestic embodied firms valued above 10 billion rose to seven, from zero a year earlier. Yet the same industry shows two faces: some are charging ahead, others are selling the training servers. … Read more

Maglev Robots Are Quietly Becoming a Real Industrial Category

The global planar maglev robot market reached nearly 1 billion US dollars in 2025, and as demand grows the segment’s prospects keep improving. A maglev robot uses electromagnetic force to move parts with no physical contact, giving precise displacement and multi degree control, with high positioning accuracy, long life, fast response and flexible motion across … Read more