Shenzhen robotics start-up Daimon secures China Mobile backing for AI push

A Shenzhen-based humanoid robotics start-up, known for the dexterity of its robots, has received fresh funding from a fund under China Mobile, demonstrating how Chinese state and private sector money is pouring into robotics.\nDaimon Robotics Technology, co-founded by Wang Yu, dean of the robotics institute at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and his student Duan Jianghua, said in a statement on Wednesday that Lianchang Fund, backed by China’s largest mobile operator, had invested in the company.\nWhile the company did not disclose the investment, Daimon said it was the fourth round of funding so far. Daimon, one of the most sought-after start-ups in mainland China’s robotics industry, has raised “hundreds of millions of yuan” from Chinese venture capital investors such as Lenovo Capital, Jinding Capital and Incubator Group, the investment arm of China Merchants Group.\nThe company’s robots are equipped with advanced sensing technology from the HKUST lab that enables them to accurately process physical attributes of objects such as hardness, texture and contact sensation.\n\nIn a recent demonstration video released by the company, its humanoid robot, equipped with tactile sensors, handles delicate tasks. These include slicing a block of tofu and releasing flower petals from its “hand” in response to a human breath.\nIn a post on X, the company said that this set a tactile-sensing record and fuelled the large-scale roll-out of vision-based tactile sensing in embodied artificial intelligence. The company is known for building its tactile sensor product system around a “perception-operation-learning” framework.\nThe company also said that it had found a path “from lab to market”. Its visual-tactile systems, released in April 2025, are widely used by its clients in manufacturing and logistics.\nThe company said the investment from Lianchang Fund would be used for research and development, marketing as well as for the Vision Tactile Language Action model – an artificial intelligence framework designed to enhance robotic capabilities.\nIn May, the company showcased its innovations at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Atlanta. It unveiled the DM-Tac W, which it claimed was the world’s first, multidimensional, high-frequency vision-based tactile sensor. It also displayed the DM-Hand 1, a humanoid hand equipped with visual and tactile sensors.\n