A robotics entrepreneur in Shenzhen has a stubborn obsession. He wants machines that walk like people, not like contraptions pretending to be people.
That entrepreneur is Zhao Tongyang. After years inside a major electric-vehicle maker's robotics arm, he started his own company to prove the point.
His startup, EngineAI (众擎机器人), registered in October 2023 in Shenzhen, is part of a crowded local field betting that low-cost humanoids (人形机器人) can find real work. The bet is less about spectacle than about a gait.
EngineAI was founded on October 7, 2023 in Shenzhen's Nanshan district, with Zhao as founder and chief executive (Chinese Wikipedia; AsiaICT). Before EngineAI, Zhao was general manager of Pengxing Intelligence (鹏行智能), the robotics unit built with XPeng, where he co-developed the PX5 humanoid that appeared at NVIDIA's GTC conference (National Business Daily; AsiaICT; Robots International).
Key takeaways
- EngineAI was founded in October 2023 in Shenzhen by Zhao Tongyang, a serial robotics entrepreneur (Chinese Wikipedia; AsiaICT).
- Before EngineAI, Zhao led XPeng's Pengxing Intelligence and co-built the PX5 humanoid shown at NVIDIA GTC (National Business Daily; AsiaICT).
- The SE01 humanoid is 1.70 m, 55 kg, 32 degrees of freedom, marketed for natural gait (AsiaICT; Robots International).
- A JD.com-led round of about RMB 1 billion (US$141 million) backed the company in 2025 (EngineAI official news).
- EngineAI lists the PM01 at about RMB 188,000 (US$26,500) and the SA01 dev biped near RMB 42,000 (US$5,900) (National Business Daily; TheRobotRadar).
The walk that went viral
EngineAI's first widely noticed product was the SE01, a 1.70 m, 55 kg humanoid with 32 degrees of freedom. Its selling point was not strength but stride: an end-to-end neural-network gait that produces long, upright, human-like steps rather than the short shuffle common in the category (AsiaICT; Robots International).
Videos of the SE01 walking through Shenzhen streets drew millions of views and landed the robot on a CCTV New Year broadcast, according to Robots International. The attention helped a then-unknown startup punch above its age. Zhao's prior track record gave the story weight: he had founded Dogotix (多够机器人), a quadruped-robot company acquired by XPeng in 2020, before running Pengxing Intelligence (National Business Daily; Chinese Wikipedia).
A product ladder, not one hero robot
EngineAI has deliberately spread its bets across price tiers rather than shipping a single flagship.
- SE01: full-size humanoid, 1.70 m, 55 kg, 32 degrees of freedom, built for industrial and research use.
- PM01: 1.38 m, about 40 kg, 24 degrees of freedom, listed around RMB 188,000; in February 2025 it performed a front flip that EngineAI described as the first by a humanoid robot (Chinese Wikipedia; Robots International; National Business Daily).
- SA01: an education and research biped priced near RMB 42,000, open enough to bolt on arms and sensors.
- T800: a flagship shown at CES 2026, from about RMB 180,000 depending on version, with a lower-center-of-mass design for dynamic motion (TheRobotRadar; Robots International).
The ladder matters because it lets universities and factories enter cheaply while the company chases higher-margin flagship sales. It is a different commercial shape from startups that lead with a single expensive demo.
Funding and a low-cost bet
EngineAI's best-documented round is a 2025 financing of nearly RMB 1 billion (about US$141 million) led by JD.com, the e-commerce and logistics group (EngineAI official news). Industry tallies cited by AsiaICT put total raised above RMB 1.5 billion by late 2025, with investors including JD.com, CATL, XPeng-linked capital, Middle Eastern funds, and state-linked vehicles such as the CCTV Fund.
Those numbers should be read with care. Reported valuations vary by source, and some rounds are described only in trade coverage. What is consistent is the strategic logic: keep hardware cost low, publish training code across frameworks like Isaac, MuJoCo, ROS, and ONNX, and court developers as much as buyers (Robots International; AsiaICT).
Why gait, not flash
Zhao has framed the lower body as the soul of a humanoid, arguing that walking ability decides which human environments a robot can enter at all (trade-interview summaries carried by Chinese outlets). It is a quietly contrarian position in a field racing toward backflips and home assistants.
The harder question is whether natural walking alone sells. EngineAI has touted deployments such as patrol support with Shenzhen police, but detailed contracts, uptime, and cost data have not been published (Robots International; AsiaICT). A convincing gait is necessary; it is not yet proof of a business.
Honest limitations
This article draws on company statements, Chinese industry and financial outlets, and secondary trackers such as Wikipedia and Robots International; none of these independently audit EngineAI's order books or valuations. The "world-first" front-flip claim is the company's own and is repeated here as such, not as a verified record. Zhao's birth year and exact equity stake are not confirmed by an authoritative primary source in our searches. RMB-to-USD figures use a fixed rate of 7.1.
What readers can do now
- Read EngineAI's official news page for the JD-led round and product specs before citing funding or price figures.
- Compare the SA01/PM01 price tiers against Unitree and UBTECH education humanoids to judge the "low-cost" claim.
- Watch for disclosed deployment metrics from Shenzhen police or JD logistics that would turn gait demos into operating evidence.