Tsinghua Post-00s Team's Embodied AI Robot Startup Closes 100 Million Yuan in Funding, Aiming for 500 Units Delivery by Year-End

Another embodied AI company has secured funding, with its core team composed entirely of post-00s.

On July 31, Hefei Zero Degrees Robotics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zero Degrees") announced the completion of its Angel+ and Angel++ funding rounds, totaling over 100 million yuan. The Angel+ round was funded by Baohe Venture Capital, Tongchuang Weiyeh, and Lianke Sci-Tech; the Angel++ round was backed by Shuimu Fund, Baohe Venture Capital, Mizuho Lianhe, and Ralph Ventures.

The funds will be primarily used in three areas:

Technological Breakthroughs: Deepening the R&D of specialized large model algorithms for embodied AI scenarios, breaking through bottlenecks in dynamic decision-making within complex environments, and accelerating the commercial deployment of embodied AI in service sectors;

Mass Production Acceleration: Speeding up the large-scale construction of mass production facilities to drive the delivery of 500 units of multi-model robots by the end of the year;

Ecosystem Layout: The company will collaborate with industrial capital and government agencies to build an embodied AI data hub, addressing challenges such as the lack of data modalities in the embodied AI industry, cumbersome data collection processes, complex task data management, and high thresholds for model training, inference, and deployment. By constructing infrastructure for the embodied AI sector, it aims to accelerate industry development.

This marks another financing event for Zero Degrees. Earlier this February, the company had completed a pre-Angel round of funding amounting to tens of millions of yuan.

Founded in January this year, Zeroth’s core team consists of post-00s researchers from Tsinghua University’s AI & Robot Intelligent Robotics Lab. The company has also attracted talent from Baidu, ByteDance, iFlytek, Midea, and other enterprises, possessing full-stack self-research capabilities spanning hardware and AI algorithm software.

Regarding products, according to its official website, Zeroth has launched the ZERITH Z series and ZERITH H series robots among others.

The basic specifications for the ZERITH Z1 Max are: height 1.45 m, weight with battery 37 kg, and total degrees of freedom (joint motors) 31.

In terms of movement, its core motion control algorithms are fully self-developed. It supports robust walking and running gaits, can navigate over 10 types of complex terrains, and can perform custom dance routines. Battery life is approximately 2.5 hours.

The wheeled-arm humanoid robot Zerith-H1 has a height of 1.3 m–1.8 m (adjustable), weighs 55 kg, has a single-arm load capacity of 2.5 kg, and features 23 total degrees of freedom (with standard grippers).

On the perception side, it is equipped with three RGB-D depth cameras, four array tactile sensors, one LiDAR, and five ultrasonic sensors. Battery life is approximately 4 hours. Regarding locomotion, its wheeled base design enables smooth and efficient movement, allowing it to adapt to various terrains and work environments.

In May this year, Zeroth released the specialized scenario operation foundation model Zerith-V0 and the wheeled-arm humanoid robot Zerith-H1, providing an embodied AI application solution for commercial service scenarios.

In June, Zeroth launched a "multimodal" end-to-end solution for embodied data. The solution includes multimodal data collection equipment, a data management platform, model training, and model inference, addressing common challenges in Embodied AI model training such as "modality gaps, cumbersome processes, complex management, and high barriers to model training, inference, and deployment."

Zeroth began delivering its ZERITH-H1 products in July and is set to start large-scale shipments in August, with an expected delivery of 500 robots by the end of this year. The company has already secured orders worth tens of millions of yuan, with total意向 (intended) orders approaching 100 million yuan. These primarily cover scenarios in scientific research and education, data centers, hotel services, and entertainment exhibitions.

The founding team of Zeroth stated that Embodied AI is not about replacing humans but reshaping productivity relations. Looking ahead, Zeroth aims to reduce the per-unit cost of robot usage to 60% of labor costs within three years.