On April 19th
Beijing Yizhuang hosted an unprecedented “marathon”
This was the world’s first humanoid robot half marathon event, attracting nearly 20 top companies and university teams to compete, serving as a comprehensive test of humanoid robots in terms of endurance, mechanical structure design, and motion control algorithms.
Behind this event, a low-profile yet powerful company stands out—Nanjing Inks Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Inks”). In this competition, more than half of the participating robots used Inks’ joint module products, including the champion and runner-up teams.
How did this young company, established only three years ago in Nanjing, rapidly develop into a leading enterprise in the field of humanoid robot joints, becoming the “invisible champion” behind the world’s first humanoid robot half marathon champion and runner-up?
Over 50% of the participating robots used Inks’ products
On the day of the competition, various “highlight moments” went viral. The robot contestant “Tall Guy” from the Beijing Embodied Intelligence Innovation Center—”Tiangong Ultra”—won the championship with a stable average speed of 7-8 km/h and a peak speed of up to 12 km/h. The runner-up was the robot “N2” from Songyan Power Company. This 1.2-meter-tall “little cutie” won applause from the audience with its excellent and stable agile gait and high-frequency steps.
“I followed this competition closely. The robots from Tiangong, Songyan Power, and others demonstrated excellent motion control algorithms and long-duration movement capabilities, while also validating the stability and durability of our joint products. As soon as the competition ended, customers immediately shared their joy with us,” said Xu Longjie, co-founder and vice president of Inks.“All the joints on ‘Tiangong Ultra’ and ‘N2’ come from Inks.”
Moreover, the participating companies such as Jiasu Evolution, Steel Treasure, Lingbao, Leju, and Qingxin are also important partners and clients of Inks. According to statistics, over 50% of the participating robots used Inks’ joint module products.
The “sensitivity” of capital is the sharpest. After Inks gained numerous fans, the first to contact Xu Longjie were not only the clients who achieved excellent results, but also many humanoid robot manufacturers and investment institutions that had never interacted with them before.
Earlier this month, Inks announced the completion of an angel+ round of financing, with investors including well-known institutions such as Jinqiu Fund and Deshi Investment. This financing news has attracted widespread attention within and outside the industry, marking the market’s recognition of robot joint technology, which will help Inks accelerate the innovation and industrial application of robot joint technology, bringing more possibilities to the robot industry.
Efficient matching of rapid R&D and production capabilities is Inks’ winning formula
“Besides the brain, the most important part of a robot is the joints.” This statement has become a consensus in the humanoid robot industry. As a core hardware component of robots, joints integrate multiple key functional modules such as drivers, motors, reducers, encoders, and controllers, accounting for over 50% of the total cost of a robot.
Inks Technology’s main mass-produced products
So, how does the performance of joints affect the competition results of robots in the marathon event?
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In a marathon, joints play a key role in the core power composition of robots, especially during long-duration, high-intensity movements, where the performance of joints directly affects the stability, precision, and endurance of the robots. High-performance joints must withstand the enormous reactive forces generated by high-intensity actions such as jumping and running, while also precisely controlling the forces, thereby determining the accuracy, coordination, explosiveness, and adaptability of robots in complex terrain environments.
Inks’ technical team in processing joint products
“Joint modules themselves are a systematic product, covering structural design, motor design, electronic design, driving algorithms, etc. It is a highly integrated, complex product with highly coupled modules. The Inks technical team possesses comprehensive capabilities, which also allows us to design and produce better products that are recognized by more clients,” Xu Longjie revealed. In addition to R&D advantages, Inks also has its own production processing center, with self-production capabilities, allowing full control over the entire process, focusing on every detail of the process. This efficient matching of rapid R&D and production capabilities ensures that Inks can continuously provide market-leading high-quality products.
Recently, the company launched the EC-DexHand-5F dexterous hand—currently the world’s smallest humanoid robot dexterous hand product with 20 active degrees of freedom. This product adopts a modular distributed design, integrating drive, reduction, sensing, etc., into each joint module, achieving an excellent balance between size, performance, and control precision, with stronger human-machine interaction and operational capabilities. With this new product, Inks is expanding from joint modules to a more complete ecosystem of robotic actuators, further solidifying its strategic position in the embodied intelligence industry chain.
Inks’ latest dexterous hand product
“Most team members come from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
and have a deep sense of belonging to Nanjing”
Inks is located in the Jiangning Development Zone of Nanjing, which serves as the “core” of the city’s robot industry layout of “one core and multiple wings,” currently gathering over a hundred core artificial intelligence industry and upstream and downstream related enterprises. In addition to humanoid robots, it has also nurtured a batch of key component suppliers for humanoid robots, including Nanchuan Intelligent, Kemaide Technology, Shenyuan Sheng Technology, Inks Technology, Lingzhi Technology, Quark Electric, and others, with products covering reducers, controllers, sensors, etc.
Within the robot “legion” of Jiangning Development Zone, the “Nanjing Aviation System” is a backbone force. Xu Longjie revealed that most members of Inks’ R&D team come from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, thus the company has a deep sense of belonging to Nanjing.
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Photo provided by the university
Looking back at history, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics has had an inseparable bond with Jiangning since the planning period of the Jiangjun Road campus. In the past three years, the university and the local area have carried out over 300 cooperative projects. Last year, Jiangning Development Zone and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics jointly launched the creation of the “Huan Nanhang Technology Innovation Belt,” with a planned total area of about 10 square kilometers, aiming to drive the addition of 20 billion yuan in industrial scale over five years, with the robot industry being one of the important cooperation directions.
The humanoid robot industry is entering a new stage of rapid development. Although many technical challenges and stability issues were exposed during this half marathon event, the overall performance still highlights the technological progress of the industry. More importantly, it sends a clear signal: robots are gradually stepping out of the laboratory and moving towards real application scenarios. In this trend, companies like Inks, which focus on core components and delve into the underlying technology, will become increasingly valuable.
In Nanjing, from the “brain” and “small brain” to the “limbs” of humanoid robots, from the R&D of core key components to the application of complete machine manufacturers, there are no shortage of challengers and leaders along the entire industrial chain.
The “dexterous hand” can screw screws and pinch tweezers, with flexibility comparable to Tesla’s humanoid robot; brain-machine interface technology decodes the mysterious signals of the human brain, leading to the development of non-invasive navigation surgical robots—this is the latest achievement of the “Zhongke System” startup technology companies in Nanjing Qilin Science and Technology Park, backed by the “national team”.
Minimally invasive flexible brain-machine interface robot. Image source: Zhongke Nanjing Artificial Intelligence Innovation Research Institute
Jicui Intelligent tackles electric servo and electro-hydraulic servo systems, Shenyuan Sheng Intelligent Technology mass-produces six-dimensional force sensors, Tianchuang Electronics releases the world’s first explosion-proof humanoid robot, and domestic industrial robot leader Estun is about to launch the second generation of humanoid robots—Nanjing’s private enterprises are leading the charge to tackle one challenging problem after another.
The world’s first explosion-proof humanoid robot “Tian Kui No. 1”. Image source: Tianchuang Robotics
Humanoid robots suitable for life services are also beginning to come to the citizens of Nanjing. At the Qinhuai Lantern Festival, the Yijia and RK100 humanoid robots appeared in the Confucius Temple parade; the “coolest robot” dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, wearing smart sunglasses and a mech helmet, frequently stole the spotlight on the streets. The latter was produced by Huaxia Robotics (Nanjing) Co., Ltd., which claims it is the world’s first mass-produced upright walking humanoid robot with a human-like face.
Yijia and RK100 humanoid robot. Image source: Jinling Weiyu Flower
Humanoid robots
This trillion-level new track competition is in full swing
Nanjing is running into the scene
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Some content sourced from | Nanjing Daily/Zijinshan News reporters Cao Lizhen and Zhang Xi; Xinhua Daily Nanjing Observer reporter Li Kai
Some images sourced from | Xinhua News Agency, company provided images
Editor | Qi Cancan
Proofreader | Chao Chenshu, Su Rui
Reviewer | Nie Ying
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