--- title: "A Chinese exoskeleton you can buy for US$360 just sold out in 15 seconds" date: 2026-11-09 category: Humanoids & Robotics site: NeuroAI canonical: https://neuroai.site/a/na-robot-ctyoung-exoskeleton language: en --- # A Chinese exoskeleton you can buy for US$360 just sold out in 15 seconds > CTyoung, a Hangzhou exoskeleton maker, sold a RMB 2,599 hip-assist suit in 15 seconds in 2025 and closed a RMB 100M+ B+ round led by ABC Capital in March 2026. An elderly visitor reaches the steep stretch of the Badaling section of the Great Wall and keeps climbing — not because the knees suddenly got younger, but because a light, battery-free brace around the hips adds a small push with every step. That brace comes from CTyoung (程天科技), a Hangzhou company that has spent nearly a decade building exoskeleton (外骨骼) robots. For years its customers were hospitals. In 2025 it started selling to ordinary people, and the result surprised even the industry. ## From rehab clinics to consumer shelves CTyoung was founded in 2017 and is led by founder Wang Tian (王天). Its early products were rehabilitation exoskeletons: the Youxing (悠行) line helps patients relearn walking after stroke or injury. The company says Youxing received EU CE certification at the end of 2024, and that its rehab devices have reached more than 1,700 medical institutions, with cumulative service above 920,000 person-times. The pivot that changed the company's profile was consumer assist. In March 2025 CTyoung released the Yixing (易行) hip-assist exoskeleton at about RMB 2,599 (≈ US$360 / HK$2,800). The company says the first batch of nearly 200 units sold out in 15 seconds on an e-commerce launch. Later that year it introduced an upgraded GoGo (速行) hip-assist suit at RMB 8,599 (≈ US$1,200 / HK$9,400), which it says drew close to 70 pre-orders in 20 minutes. ## Why a thousand-dollar brace matters Exoskeletons have long been framed as either military gear or six-figure medical devices. CTyoung's move is to treat the hip brace as a consumer product: light carbon-fiber structure, no power needed for the passive version, and a price low enough that an older adult might buy one for daily walks rather than rent it from a clinic. Still, a passive brace assists rather than restores: it offsets fatigue on hills and long walks, not injury or disease, and its benefit for healthy users is largely anecdotal outside the company's own material. The real test will be whether buyers keep wearing it once the novelty fades and the stairs stay just as steep. The company claims its core components are 100% domestically sourced and that its module cost is about one-tenth of the industry norm — the kind of cost curve that, if real, is what turns a medical device into a mass-market aid. It also states intent-recognition accuracy of 98.7% with response under 0.05 seconds, figures we treat as company claims rather than independently verified. A policy tailwind helps. Eleven Chinese provinces have added exoskeleton therapy to insurance coverage (according to the company's disclosures), and national "silver economy" and "robot+" plans name rehabilitation robots as a priority. CTyoung frames its strategy as "medical + consumer" dual drive — using clinical data from hospitals to sharpen the consumer products. ## The money and the overseas bet Investors have followed. In early 2025 CTyoung closed a B round of about RMB 100M (近亿元, ≈ US$14M / HK$110M) led by Wuxi Capital (锡创投). On March 5, 2026 it announced a B+ round of comparable size led by ABC Capital (农银资本, the investment arm of Agricultural Bank of China), with Inovance Venture (汇川产投) and Hangzhou Capital (杭州资本) joining. The funds are earmarked for overseas consumer expansion, embodied-AI exoskeleton R&D, and brain-computer-interface product registration. Overseas, CTyoung launched an assist brand, Ascentiz, on Kickstarter; it says the campaign drew more than 3,000 backers and raised over US$2.5M in 45 days, pitching the device as the first modular wearable assist exoskeleton with a developer mode. ## What readers can do now - **If mobility is a real concern, rent or trial before buying.** Passive hip braces are low-risk to try; powered suits need a fit check and a medical opinion for anyone with a condition. - **Distinguish rehab from assist.** A CE-marked rehab exoskeleton and a consumer walking aid are different products with different evidence behind them — match the device to the need. - **Watch the insurance map.** In China, exoskeleton therapy coverage varies by province; check local policy before assuming a subsidy applies. ## Honest limitations This article relies on CTyoung announcements, Hangzhou municipal sources, China Daily, and Chinese financial media; we did not independently verify shipment or service counts, and the 920,000+ person-times and 1,700-institution figures are company-reported. The 98.7% accuracy and one-tenth cost claims are company statements, not third-party audited. We have not tested the devices, and long-term durability and real-world assist benefit for healthy users remain lightly documented outside marketing material. ## Key takeaways - CTyoung (程天科技), a 2017 Hangzhou exoskeleton maker, sold a ~RMB 2,599 hip-assist suit in 15 seconds in 2025 and an upgraded ~RMB 8,599 version soon after. - Its strategy pairs hospital-grade rehab data with a consumer price point, backed by a March 2026 B+ round led by ABC Capital. - The open question is durability and proven benefit at consumer scale — the price drop is real, the everyday payoff is still being documented. --- Published by NeuroAI (https://neuroai.site/) — https://neuroai.site/a/na-robot-ctyoung-exoskeleton Free to quote with attribution and a link to the original.