Shangyuan Zhixing (Tongxiang) Technology Co., Ltd. announced the completion of a Pre-A funding round of 60 million yuan, led by Puhua Capital, with Blue Lake Capital and Jiushi Intelligent participating. The funds will mainly be used for R&D of core drive-by-wire components, iterative upgrades of intelligent skateboard chassis products, and increased production capacity for functional unmanned vehicles.
Wandercraft's AI-driven personal exoskeleton was highlighted by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang during the opening keynote at CES 202 and recognized as an ecosystem member. The exoskeleton features self-balancing technology (no crutches needed) and AI that adapts in real time to uneven terrain, and it can stand, walk, sit, bend over, and dance through simple joystick commands. The company has launched a clinical trial in the New York area, recruiting adults aged 18 and older with complete or incomplete motor spinal cord injury at T6 or above.
At the China Motion Control/Direct Drive Industry Development Summit Forum on December 12, Hechuan Technology's YOLO Youlong 01 humanoid robot was named a "CMCD 2024 Innovative Product in Motion Control."
Wandercraft publicly demonstrated its Personal Exoskeleton prototype for the first time at the 2024 Paralympic Torch Relay, with trained pilot Thibault Simon, who has quadriplegia, operating it to walk while carrying the torch. The exoskeleton is self-balancing, has 12 degrees of freedom and 12 motors, and lets users walk without assistive devices. The device is still in late-stage development, with clinical trials in the United States upcoming and commercialization targeted for the coming years.
French medical robotics company Wandercraft has secured €25 million in financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to develop a personal self-balancing exoskeleton for people with severe mobility impairments and to accelerate patient access to Atalante X. The loan is guaranteed under the EU's InvestEU program. Atalante X has entered nearly 100 rehabilitation institutions and clinical research centers in Europe and the US, and has received FDA clearance for stroke and T5 to L5 spinal cord injury patients.
Wandercraft announced that its self-balancing exoskeleton Atalante X has received FDA clearance for rehabilitation training in patients with spinal cord injuries at levels T5 to L5, its second FDA clearance following approval for stroke rehabilitation in December 2022. The clearance is based on safety and efficacy data from more than 500 patients, including clinical trials and real-world evidence; Atalante X features powered ankle joint mechanisms and self-balancing technology, allowing patients to stand, walk, and step in different directions during their first training session.
Elite Robots has passed the MTBF 100,000-hour evaluation and certification by SEPRI, which it calls the longest mean time between failures test in the industry to date. The validation focused on the CS series collaborative robots, which use an integrated design of harmonic reducer, motor, and output feedback shaft, offer IP68 protection across the entire series, and feature modular brakes that passed more than 100,000 category-1 emergency stop tests and more than 10,000 category-0 emergency stop tests. The company has a 3,000㎡ production workshop and a 100,000-class 2,500㎡ clean joint assembly workshop, with annual capacity exceeding 5,000 units.
Wandercraft held an invitation-only event in New York on December 13 to unveil its self-stabilizing Personal Exoskeleton for everyday personal use. Once approved, it is expected to become the first hands-free walking exoskeleton on the market, helping people with mobility impairments walk without canes at home and in the community. The product is based on the company's Atalante X rehabilitation exoskeleton technology, already used in rehabilitation hospitals in Europe, the US, and Brazil. Experts note that 4-6 hours per week of exoskeleton-assisted walking can improve health.
Beijing Soft Robot Tech Co., Ltd. (SRT), a company in which Puhua Capital made an angel investment, recently secured two consecutive funding rounds totaling 150 million yuan. The Series C round was led by Jinshi Investment, and the C+ round was invested in by Shenqi Capital and Zhuoxing Fund.
Huajiang Medical Robotics recently completed a Series A+ financing round of tens of millions of yuan, with investors including Zhejiang Daily Press Group and Hangkai Group; Puhua Capital made an angel investment in the company in 2021. Founded in 2020, the company has a team of about 70 people, with R&D staff accounting for more than 50%. It has received approval to market 2 Class I products and 2 Class II products, and several other products have entered the engineering prototype and type testing stages. Its intelligent reconfigurable endoscopic surgical robot system supports single-port, multi-port, and human-machine collaborative surgical modes and is currently in the prototype development stage; three categories of innovative devices—instrument-holding robots, bendable surgical instruments, and endoscopic imaging systems—have been introduced into clinical application.
On January 10, Livox released the hybrid solid-state LiDAR Mid-360, with a body size of 6.5 × 6.5 × 6 cm, nearly 60% smaller than the previous generation Mid-70 in the same series, and providing 40-line point cloud density.
Why it matters: It gives hard specifications such as size, field of view, range, and price, making it easier to judge its potential to replace perception solutions for low-speed mobile robots.
Livox has released a performance test report for its automotive-grade hybrid solid-state LiDAR HAP; the full text is available on request. In testing, HAP effectively detected a white sedan at 150 meters, still returned more than 7 points on the vehicle body at 200 meters, and detected more than 3 points on a 15-centimeter water bottle at about 30 meters.
Livox announced an official partnership with Xpeng, becoming Xpeng's first lidar partner. It will supply automotive-grade lidar for new models mass-produced from 2021, paired with Xpeng's XPILOT autonomous driving system. The customized Horiz increases detection range at 10% reflectivity from 90m on the publicly available sample version of Horiz to 150m, expands the horizontal field of view from 81° to 120°, and raises ROI point cloud density to the equivalent of 144 lines within 0.1 seconds, all without adding laser emitters.
On October 26, 2020, Livox released two lidar solutions: the Mid-70 for near-range detection in low-speed autonomous driving and the Avia for long-range detection, priced at $799 and $1,599 respectively, now on sale in DJI's official online store.
Why it matters: The official announcement provides the field of view, blind spot, range parameters, and prices of both lidars, and lists customers who have ordered or integrated them, making it easy to directly evaluate selection and integration costs.
Livox announced that the Livox Tele-15 automotive lidar is now in mass production and on sale globally, available through its official online store. Low-reflectivity target detection range is increased by 60%, rising from 200 meters to 320 meters at 10% reflectivity, while the reflectivity required for detection at 500 meters drops from 80% to 50%; with custom firmware, maximum detection range can reach 1,000 meters.
Livox was named to the 2019 KPMG China Leading AutoTech 50, despite only entering the lidar industry in 2019. The high-performance Livox Horizon and Tele-15 lidars were launched in early 2020, designed for L3/L4 autonomous vehicles; mass production brought the price below 1,000 USD, one-tenth that of most traditional lidar sensors. Livox also plans to release more SDK tools and open-source algorithms.
French walking exoskeleton company Wandercraft will showcase its Atalante autonomous walking exoskeleton for the first time at the ARAB HEALTH 2020 trade show in Dubai, at booth Z2L15. Atalante allows patients with severe walking impairments to stand and walk without crutches during rehabilitation training, and its second-generation exoskeleton can self-balance and walk hands-free. The exoskeleton is in clinical evaluation for post-stroke walking rehabilitation, and the company is also developing a personal exoskeleton for everyday individual use.
Livox has launched three LiDAR sensors: the Mid-40/Mid-100, Horizon, and Tele-15. The Mid-40 is priced at $599 and the Mid-100 at $1,499, and they are on sale now through the DJI online store in the EU, US, Canada, Australia, and Japan.
Why it matters: The original article provides pricing, production scale, and key performance parameters, which readers can use to assess the impact on LiDAR selection in robotics and autonomous driving.