JD.com Deepens Push Into Embodied Intelligence With Investment in Sensor Maker PaXiniTech

ToraOne, the second-generation multidimensional tactile humanoid robot developed by PaXiniTech

AsianFin — JD.com Inc. has ramped up its bet on embodied intelligence with a fresh investment in PaXiniTech, a Shenzhen-based developer of advanced tactile sensors and humanoid robotics, marking its sixth deal in the sector in just three months.

The company said it raised 1 billion yuan ($138 million) in just four months, a record-setting pace in the emerging field of embodied intelligence hardware.

Founded by alumni of Waseda University’s Robotics Laboratory — the birthplace of the world’s first humanoid robot — PaXiniTech has carved out a leadership position in haptic perception technologies. Its product lineup spans from multidimensional haptic humanoid robots and dexterous robotic hands to core sensor modules and data-driven embodied intelligence models.

“Touch is the least understood of human senses in robotics, yet it holds the key to human-level dexterity,” said founder and CEO Xu Jincheng, who emphasized that tactile sensors, not vision, will ultimately unlock real-world interaction capabilities for machines. “Without multidimensional haptic feedback, robots will never be able to manipulate objects with human-like reliability.”

PaXiniTech’s technologies include the ITPU multidimensional haptic processing unit and the humanoid robot TORA-ONE, integrating touch, vision, and AI-driven perception. Beyond hardware, the company operates a self-built dataset generating 200 million haptic data entries annually, forming the foundation for its OmniVTLA embodied intelligence model. Clients span sectors from smart manufacturing and healthcare to consumer electronics.