The $6 Billion Chinese Startup Trying to Build Hands for Every Robot

Imagine a future where humanoid robots are as common and affordable as smartphones, capable of handling everything from cooking to childcare. This is the ambitious vision of Zhou Yong, the 40-year-old founder and CTO of LinkerBot, a leading Chinese manufacturer of dexterous robotic hands. His startup offers advanced five-fingered hands with at least 11 joints for as little as $600 in China, capable of intricate tasks like playing piano, threading needles, and assembling electronics. Zhou predicts these prices will plummet to $200 within three to five years, leading to a world where, on average, "everyone will own 10 robots." While much attention is often drawn to the mobility of robots, the true engineering frontier in humanoids lies in their hands. Elon Musk himself noted that "the hands are the majority of the engineering difficulty of the entire robot." Founded just last year in 2023, LinkerBot has rapidly ascended to become a market leader, shipping an impressive 10,000 robotic hands last year, accounting for 80 percent of global demand. Their clientele spans research laboratories, manufacturers, and even other prominent humanoid robot makers, solidifying their pivotal role in the burgeoning industry. LinkerBot's meteoric rise is also reflected in its financial prowess. The startup has completed six rounds of fundraising in a mere 13 months, attracting significant investors including the Chinese government, Alibaba’s Ant Group, and Sequoia Capital’s Chinese spinoff, HongShan Capital. Currently, LinkerBot is seeking another financing round at a staggering $6 billion valuation, double its worth just months prior, with reports suggesting a potential public offering in Hong Kong. Zhou attributes this success to a focused strategy: specializing in hands rather than attempting to build entire humanoids, a move that allows them to avoid direct competition with giants like Tesla and Unitree, much like "selling water or shovels during the gold rush." Zhou Yong, who previously sold an autonomous driving startup, pivoted to robotics in 2019, anticipating a boom around 2025. He observes a significant shift where Chinese startups now lead in robotic hand development, while many American counterparts have concentrated on large language models and AI software. This has effectively "erased" the valuation gap between Chinese and US primary markets in robotics. LinkerBot leverages China's robust manufacturing capabilities, offering Linker Hand products ranging from $600 to $15,000, providing a crucial price advantage that makes sophisticated automation accessible to factories worldwide. To counter skepticism about "Made in China" quality, the company offers international buyers a one-year exchange period. Zhou envisions the rollout of humanoid robots in three distinct stages. Initially, robots will fulfill entertainment and emotional roles, such as dancing or greeting guests, a stage already widely demonstrated by Chinese firms. The second phase will see them undertaking narrowly defined jobs like making drinks or sorting packages. The ultimate stage involves deployment in complex environments, particularly homes, where robots will need to adapt to diverse layouts and objects, requiring a combination of many skill sets. LinkerBot's current strategy is to tailor its hands for sophisticated manufacturing facilities, even employing its own robotic hands in its assembly lines to produce more hands, showcasing their industrial utility. The demand for such automation is particularly acute in China, where despite its reputation for cheap labor, manufacturers face a growing labor shortage. Younger generations are increasingly unwilling to work in factories, pushing companies to adopt robots for jobs where human workers are scarce. Zhou's lifelong ambition, inspired by the Japanese anime character Doraemon, is to create a real-life version of the magical robot. He believes building a highly capable, dexterous hand is a fundamental step towards this dream, ultimately predicting a future where robots will be "100 times" greater than any human and eventually replace them.