US$100 million for Chinese robot dog manufacturer

The robotics division of Chinese startup XPENG Motors, founded in 2014, has received US$100 million in a Series A round. While XPENG is also active in automotive, the money will go to XPENG Robotics. XPENG Robotics (founded in 2016) is developing four-legged robots in the design of a dog. These are to be able to move autonomously in a navigating manner. Using object recognition and sensor technology, the dog should not only be able to avoid obstacles, but also be "intelligent".

Differentiation from Boston Dynamics

When we hear the word "robot dog," we probably all think of "Spot" from Boston Dynamics. This currently costs around $50,000, weighs an impressive 25 kg and is increasingly being used in industry for inspection tasks. However, XPENG sees our households as the market. I find this interesting insofar as I attest "Mipa" from Neura Robotics with its arm utility, but not a dog. An exception could be entertainment and perhaps also guard functions. A dog with an attached arm represents a mixture, but probably also for the industry(link).

Who knows, maybe a toddler can also ride on the XPENG dog. (cf. also saddle on the photo above as well as video). In this case, an autonomously moving dog could take the child to kindergarten alone, for example. A real added value for the parents.

The following video contains a lot of animation, but no real images. The statement would be clearly child-fitness. Perhaps a smokescreen. A toy robot dog has been available from Sony for years.

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The author of this blog is significantly involved in the AI/robotics project Opdra. He advises on almost all issues related to robotics incl funding/subsidies, but does not go in-depth into the technology. More about him can be found here.