CGXi (长广溪智造), a domestic cobot developer, today announced the completion of a Series A round of funding worth close to 100 million yuan (US$13.71 million).
The startup, headquartered in eastern China’s Wuxi, will use this fundraiser to support new product R&D, productivity expansion, sales channel construction and brand building, said Ji Feng, co-founder and executive chairman of CGXi.
Founded in 2018, the startup is dedicated to manufacturing cobots and smart auto parts based on its flexible motion control technologies.
After years of development, cobot, a variant of the bigger and bulkier industrial robot, has seen wider adoption in sectors including automaking and consumer electronics (3C).
Market statistics indicate that 3C, automaking and auto parts and healthcare segments represent 30.11%, 27.15% and 14.67% of the demand for cobots in China.
Cobot, which by definition involves a higher degree of human-machine collaboration, started out as an upgrade to industrial robots, which are often surrounded by fences for safety reasons.
The growing penetration of robots in recent years has led to a host of new applications across a spectrum of industries.
Nonetheless, the new contraption faces limitations such as in operational speed.
According to Wang Gang, co-founder and general manager of CGXi, most cobot manufacturers face the shared conundrum of how to improve the speed of their products and meet more application scenarios without undermining operational stability and reliability.
Wang’s company managed to overcome these obstacles thanks to its core strengths such as self-developed smart flexible motion control algorithms.
Specifically, they include a smaller size, faster speed, bigger torque, quicker response and better human-machine alignment.
Its robots are also equipped with a high-power-density motor developed in-house, enabling their joints to spin faster with greater torque, as well as move with a faster speed and enhanced efficiency.
Currently, CGXi has rolled out a product portfolio consisting of its C, G, and X series of automotive-grade high-speed cobots.
Among them, the C series caters to the service sector, such as food and beverage, massage parlor and other health care givers, and is IP66 water- and dust-tolerant.
Additionally, the G series is tailored to the manufacturing space, with a protection level of IP54/IP67, while the X series is IP68-rated, meaning the robots guarantee protection against explosion.
