Tesla and Figure Robot Race Remotely; Qizhong Launches T800; Galaxy General Completes Shareholding Reform | Weekly Tech Roundup

1. Tesla and Figure Showcase Robot Running Videos in a Remote Race

On December 3, Tesla posted a video of the Optimus robot running on X, captioned: "Just set a new personal record in the lab."

The video shows that Optimus's running posture has reached a high level of human-like realism, although the official running speed has not yet been disclosed. Compared to late 2023 when Optimus was just learning to walk at a leisurely pace, it has learned to run naturally in just over two years.

Notably, shortly after Tesla shared the Optimus running video, Figure founder Brett Adcock posted a video of his robot, Figure 03, performing shuttle runs the next day. Adcock stated that Figure 03 has achieved a speed of 2.9 m/s. The gap in athletic capabilities between humans and robots is rapidly narrowing.

As leading US robotics companies, Tesla and Figure follow different hardware and software approaches but are both accelerating their efforts toward general-purpose humanoid robots to capture the core application scenarios of industrial and home environments.

2. ZQRobotics launches new humanoid robot T800

On December 2, ZQRobotics officially launched its new humanoid robot, the T800, priced starting at 180,000 RMB. The company simultaneously introduced a tiered product matrix consisting of four versions: Basic, Ecosystem (Open Source), Sharp (Pro), and Flagship (Max), designed to meet application needs in scientific research and education, patrol and inspection, commercial services, cultural tourism and entertainment, logistics distribution, and industrial collaboration.

According to parameter specifications on the official website, the Pro and Max versions are equipped with D415+D435i+AC1 perception sensors, and their high-compute modules feature the Thor chip.

As a full-size general-purpose humanoid robot, the T800 stands 1.73 meters tall and weighs 75 kg. It has a total of 29 degrees of freedom (excluding dexterous hands).

Additionally, the T800 is powered by a high-performance solid-state battery, enabling 4-5 hours of stable endurance. It is also equipped with a fully active joint cooling system for the legs, effectively ensuring stable performance output during continuous operations.

It was reported that in terms of practical applications, the T800 has completed technical closed-loop verification across multiple core application scenarios and is about to enter mass production for frontline industrial applications.

To test the strength of T800, ZQRobotics CEO Zhao Tongyang donned protective gear and participated in person. The result was that T800 kicked him to the ground. Zhao stated, "Without protective gear, no one could withstand it; a fracture would be inevitable."

Following the launch of its new robot model T800, ZQRobotics recently announced the completion of its A1+ and A2 funding rounds. The A2 round was led by existing shareholder Huangpu Capital with an absolute majority stake, jointly invested by Henan Investment Group Huirong Fund, and co-led by existing shareholder Huakong Fund. Other existing shareholders, including Leishi Capital Stone and Genesis Partners, continued to increase their stakes. Six new institutional investors were also introduced: Guozhong Venture Capital, CCTV Fund, Nanshan Strategic Emerging Industry Investment, Caixin Capital, Geely Xingyuan, and Huiqin Capital.

3. Midea's Humanoid Robot 'MIRO U' First Revealed

On December 5, Wei Chang, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Midea Group, officially unveiled the humanoid robot 'MIRO U (美罗U)' at the '2025 Greater Bay Area New Economy Development Forum & 21st Century Tech Annual Conference'.

As a six-arm wheeled-legged humanoid robot, MIRO U is the third-generation product in Midea's humanoid robot family. It features stable vertical movement and 360-degree原地 rotation, along with high-precision and flexible control of six bionic mechanical arms. Its actuators support rapid switching of various end-effectors, forming a multi-dimensional collaborative operation system.

It is reported that MIRO U will enter Wuxi Shuanggao Washing Machine Factory for production line empowerment by the end of this year, improving the efficiency of production line changeover adjustments by 30%.

Additionally, Wei Chang stated that the 'MIRO' series designed for industrial scenarios has completed three generations of product iterations. Meanwhile, the 'Meila' series, aimed at commercial and home scenarios, has entered its final testing phase. It is planned to enter Midea's offline experience stores in 2026 to undertake service tasks such as product guidance and functional demonstrations.

4. General Robotics Completes Shareholding Reform

Recently, information from Qichacha showed that the name of General Robotics was changed from "Beijing General Robotics Co., Ltd." to "Beijing General Robotics Co., Ltd." (Joint Stock), and its enterprise type was changed from a limited liability company to a joint stock limited company. This marks a crucial step for General Robotics in standardizing operations and capital management, while also accelerating the capitalization process of the humanoid robot industry.

Founded in May 2023, General Robotics has completed six rounds of financing to date, raising over 2.4 billion yuan. Its last round of financing took place in June, when it completed a 1.1 billion yuan Pre-A round led by CATL.

In terms of technology, in November this year, General Robotics, in collaboration with teams from Peking University, the University of Adelaide, Zhejiang University, and others, launched NavFoM, a foundational large model for omnidirectional navigation across different morphologies.

As a foundational large model, NavFoM can simultaneously support indoor and outdoor scenarios, enabling zero-shot operation in unseen environments without requiring mapping or additional data collection for training. It supports various specific navigation tasks driven by natural language instructions, such as target following and autonomous navigation. Additionally, it allows for rapid and low-cost adaptation to heterogeneous morphologies of varying sizes, including robotic dogs, wheeled humanoids, legged humanoids, drones, and even automobiles.