Anywit Robotics has raised an eight-figure RMB sum in a pre-Series A funding round from several industry investors, including Didi’s corporate venture capital arm. The capital will be used to refine its standardized expressive head products and upgrade its emotional interaction models. Winsoul Capital, the lead investor in Anywit’s angel round, served as the financial advisor for the transaction.
Founded in December 2023, Anywit develops multimodal interactive robots designed to emulate the vitality of humans. The company has released a head-and-face component for humanoid robots that features 34 degrees of freedom. According to the company, the system delivers embodied expressions comparable to those of humans, including eye contact and audio-lip synchronization.
The facial interaction component integrates a multimodal large model, a proprietary small model for emotion generation, and a motion planning system capable of handling multiple intents. This setup is intended to support interaction experiences that feel more natural to users.
Cao Rongyun, founder and CEO of Anywit, told 36Kr that the company leads the market in the segments where it specializes. He added that its technology benchmarks globally against Ameca, a recognized industry leader. Anywit is also advancing its commercialization efforts. It has introduced interactive robots equipped with expressive head-and-face components for use in education and research, marketing reception, and entertainment.
Anni, a robot developed by Anywit, appeared at this year’s World Robot Conference and the 27th China Hi-Tech Fair. The company has delivered preliminary units of its educational robots, established a standardized product line, and deployed robotic teachers in primary school classrooms.
Looking ahead, Cao told 36Kr that Anywit plans to expand its product exploration, with mass shipments of standardized robotic head-and-face components targeted for 2026. Drawing a parallel to the role graphical user interfaces played in bringing computers into homes, and how the iPhone’s touch screen and app ecosystem ushered in the mobile internet era, he believes mature facial expression interaction technology will be a critical breakthrough for broader robot adoption.
Anywit’s team includes graduates from the University of Science and Technology of China. The group has nearly a decade of research experience in human–machine interaction and has earned awards in several international robotics competitions.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Qiu Xiaofen for 36Kr.