Xiaomi Expands into Embodied Intelligence: Investing in Xiaoyu Intelligent Manufacturing with Dual-Track Approach

AIbase基地

Published inAI News · 4 min read · Jul 19, 2024

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As the global tide of artificial intelligence sweeps across the world, Xiaomi Group is quietly positioning itself in the embodied intelligence business, aiming to seize the initiative in the next wave of AI. According to 36Kr, Xiaomi has partnered with robotics expert Wang Tianmiao to invest in an embodied intelligence tech company named "Xiaoyu Intelligence Manufacturing". This marks Xiaomi's first external investment in the embodied intelligence sector.

"Xiaoyu Intelligence Manufacturing" was established in February 2023 and has already completed several hundred million yuan in seed funding. Its core founding team consists of former Xiaomi executives: Founder Qiao Zhongliang was the head of MIUI R&D, and co-founder Wang Wenlin served as the general manager of Xiaomi's software system platform department. Other team members come from renowned tech companies such as Huawei, ByteDance, and Microsoft.

The core concept of "Xiaoyu Intelligence Manufacturing" is the "one brain, multiple forms" embodied intelligent robot, which uses a highly generalized intelligent entity to control multiple robots of different forms in various scenarios. The company has already secured an order for a hundred welding robots from a leading heavy industrial enterprise and has started joint operations for the first batch of products.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi is also actively expanding internally. In 2021, Xiaomi established a robotics laboratory and launched the full-size humanoid bionic robot CyberOne and the bionic quadruped robot Cyberdog. In 2023, Xiaomi spun off this business to form "Beijing Xiaomi Robot Technology Co., Ltd." and received strategic investment from Yizhuang Guotou.

Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, stated that all the technology behind CyberOne is self-developed by Xiaomi, with significant investment. In the future, CyberOne will "intern" on the manufacturing lines of Xiaomi's car factory, exploring the application of humanoid robots in industrial scenarios.

By adopting both internal incubation and external investment strategies, Xiaomi is accelerating its layout in the embodied intelligence field. This "two-pronged approach" provides Xiaomi with more possibilities and positions it well to seize the initiative in the next wave of AI. Xiaomi's moves are worth continuous attention and could bring new changes and opportunities to the entire industry.

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