【Abstract】Recently, JD.com has invested in six robot companies, including Zhiyuan Robotics in May and Qianxun, Zhuji Power, Zhongqing Robotics, RoboScience, and Pasini in July, effectively "assembling" the body, cerebellum, touch, and modular parts of robots. Simultaneously, JD.com is making internal advancements with the JoyInside platform, enabling robots from various brands to be listed on JD.com. Qianxun's AI sorting system is being piloted in JD.com warehouses, Zhuji's TRON-1 will be available for sale later this year, and MagicDog Pro, a quadruped robot, completed multimodal testing, selling out 3,000 educational toys during the 618 shopping festival.

In the nascent stages of the industry, collaborating to build an ecosystem is vital for the penetration of consumer robots.

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When JD.com first introduced robotic arms for warehouse sorting, few could have envisioned a decade later that it would invest in chatbot dog robots. In July 2025, JD.com led a nearly $29 million angel round of funding for RoboScience and has invested in six robot enterprises in the past three months.

In May, JD.com participated in the B+ round of investment in Zhiyuan Robotics, increasing its emphasis on embodied intelligence. On July 21, JD.com led the Pre-A+ round of investment in Qianxun Intelligence with $87 million, focusing on the VLA large model. The same day, JD.com strategically led the investment in Zhuji Power, bringing the bipedal robot TRON-1 into universities and warehouses, while also investing nearly $145 million to lead the A1 round of Zhongqing Robotics, striving to reduce costs to below $20,000. On July 30, JD.com invested nearly $29 million in the angel round of RoboScience, laying out smart modules integrating software and hardware. On August 5, JD.com invested $145 million in the A round to lead Pasini.

Recently, JD.com also launched the embodied intelligence brand JoyInside, providing end-to-end solutions for robots to converse with humans and offering limited-time free access. Currently, dozens of mainstream brands have accessed the platform, including the companion toy Fuzozo, seen as the "AI version of Labubu"; FireFireRabbit, Dr. Ruka, Yuanluobo, and Xin Dalu in the education sector; and Zhongqing Robotics and CloudMinds in the industrial sector.

From pure logistics automation to the layout of an embodied intelligence ecosystem, JD.com's robot strategy is evolving from a "tool" to a "partner" approach.

Investment Territory: Building a Full Chain of "Brain-Body-Scenario"

Notably, despite the rapid succession of JD.com's investments, the $4 billion spent has subtly complemented the "brain, cerebellum, body, limbs," and even "skin" of the robot industry.

For instance, Zhiyuan Robotics and Zhongqing Robotics are responsible for the "body." Zhiyuan focuses on the research, development, manufacturing, and mass production of core components such as general-purpose embodied robot complete machines, joint modules, controllers, and grippers, with thousands of units already in mass production. Zhongqing plans to reduce the overall cost to $20,000-$30,000 and currently has three humanoid robot products, expected to be directly placed in Asia's No. 1 Warehouse for picking, packing, and transportation.

Qianxun and Zhuji Power focus on the "cerebellum." Qianxun's main business includes general-purpose humanoid robot complete machines and the VLA large model, enabling 26-joint humanoid robots to tidy desks and deliver garbage in office buildings. Its self-developed OneTwoVLA achieves "thinking while doing," adapting to real-time decision-making in complex office environments. Zhuji sends legged robots to ramp depots or park inspections, simultaneously developing supporting embodied intelligence algorithms to allow them to run stairs, replace night shift security guards and restockers, and complete park inspections.

RoboScience provides "Lego-style" joint modules, enabling users to assemble a scenario-specific production line in just four weeks, reducing trial and error and spare parts inventory.

Pasini complements the "skin," using flexible tactile sensors and dexterous hands to enable robots to move like humans. Currently deployed in batches in 3C and logistics sorting lines, it directly solves millimeter-level non-destructive sorting in cold chain and 3C fragile goods warehouses, achieving the fastest commercial validation.

Furthermore, all hardware can be pre-installed with JD.com's JoyInside large model, forming a closed loop of "scenario-data-model-re-landing," with data being transmitted back in real-time for training, making JD.com's robots smarter and cheaper with each use.

At this juncture, JD.com has effectively established a trinity ecological layout of algorithm-hardware-data. This vertical integration capability is unique among domestic internet giants and is poised to reduce costs and swiftly integrate robots into the production chain.

Firmly Optimistic About Embodied Intelligence

Why is JD.com so aggressive in the field of robots? Superficially, as JD.com grows and expands its business, the demand for supply chain efficiency soars. However, the deeper reason lies in its optimism about the future of embodied intelligence.

He Xiaodong, Senior Vice President of JD.com, once proposed that embodied intelligence must simultaneously possess "brain + cerebellum + IO," meaning that robots need triple breakthroughs in motion control (cerebellum), intelligent decision-making (brain), and interaction capabilities (IO). This implies that using robots to empower businesses is not merely about simple labor replacement and hardware changes but a comprehensive upgrade from the decision-making end to the motion end.

This cognition has also driven JD.com's robot investments from pure logistics automation to the broader consumer market.

Data from the 2025 618 shopping festival revealed that JD.com's self-operated sales of intelligent robots increased threefold year-on-year, with embodied intelligent robots surging seventeenfold, validating market potential.

Unlike Meituan's focus on using robots to simply replace riders, JD.com's investments in robots aim to establish ecological standards.

Through the JoyInside platform, JD.com has collaborated with over a dozen leading robot brands, akin to Apple's MFi certification system, giving it the opportunity to influence the industry's discourse. According to estimates by the China Academy of New Economy, the embodied intelligence market will reach a trillion-yuan scale by 2030, a race that JD.com is unwilling to miss.

Accelerating Internal Development: Breaking Through from Warehouses to Household Scenarios

He Xiaodong once predicted: "In the future, every household may have a humanoid robot, and there will be even more in other forms." To expedite this vision, JD.com has launched the JoyInside "Embodied Intelligence Acceleration Plan," providing SDK, box, and API free access methods for robot and AI hardware enterprises to lower industry thresholds.

At the July WAIC event, the invested complete machines of Zhongqing's PM01/SA01, Zhuji Power's TRON-1, and Qianxun's Moz1 were collectively marked with the "Powered by JoyInside" logo for the first time and simultaneously went on sale on the JD.com app.

Among them, Zhongqing's SA01 accepted user "starting bids from 1 yuan," becoming the first batch of lightweight humanoid robots to truly enter consumer channels.

After announcing the funding, Zhuji Power confirmed that its full-size humanoid robot has completed mass production preparations and will be publicly sold through the JD.com platform in the second half of 2025, while also conducting scenario validation with JD.com's logistics and retail businesses.

This funding not only provides Zhuji Power with an authoritative sales platform and channels but also potentially enables the company to deeply integrate with JD.com and participate in the construction of JD.com's robot intelligent scenarios in the future.

The CEO of Qianxun Intelligence confirmed to Securities Times that its AI autonomous decision-making system has been integrated into JD.com's supply chain, with the first pilot project used in warehouse sorting to reduce staff and increase efficiency. Qianxun's VLA large model has also been deployed in JD.com's logistics sorting center for scenario validation. The earlier-launched MagicDog Pro quadruped robot has completed multimodal interaction testing of speech, vision, and touch in JD.com's logistics warehouses.

In the consumer market, CloudMinds' quadruped robot has gained emotional interaction capabilities through the JoyAI large model. The AI toy Fuzozo sold out 3,000 units on its first day of launch on JD.com's 618 shopping festival, ranking among the top ten trendy blind boxes.

The education scenario is equally impressive. After accessing JoyInside, the average number of conversation rounds per person for the Yuanluobo AI chess-playing robot increased by 148%; the Xin Dalu robot increased user conversation duration by 50% through gamified interaction. These data confirm He Xiaodong's judgment: when robots enter the consumer market, the iteration speed will increase exponentially.

At the end of August, JD.com, as the "Global Exclusive Strategic Partner," joined hands with the aforementioned brands to log in to the 2025 World Robot Conference. Over 50 cooperative models will be exhibited in a 5,000-square-meter immersive exhibition area.

Epilogue

At the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, JD.com announced at WAIC that the 750B version of the JoyAI large model "performs on par with the industry's leading level" and simultaneously open-sourced the JoyAgent intelligent agent.

According to reports, relying on JD.com's own supply chain scenario advantages, the newly upgraded JoyAI large model has penetrated various fields such as retail, logistics, healthcare, and industry, serving over one million merchants on JD.com and being deeply applied in hundreds of segmented business scenarios.

In the nascent stages of the industry, collaborating to build an ecosystem is crucial for the penetration of consumer robots.

- XINLIU -