sudo robotics 苏度科技
"Building generalized robots"
Shanghai embodied-AI company founded in 2025 by Han Zheng and Hao Su; its #sudo R1 robot system picks unseen objects using a model trained only in simulation.
sudo robotics (also styled sudo AI; Chinese name Sudu Technology) is a Shanghai-based embodied artificial intelligence company founded in May 2025. It describes its mission as building the foundation for general-purpose robots: robotic skills that can be learned, transferred and deployed in the physical world. The company develops its models, training data, simulation, robot hardware and control system in-house, and its careers page lists roles in Shanghai, Beijing and Mountain View, California.
The company was co-founded by CEO Han Zheng and chairman and CTO Hao Su. Han Zheng is a Beihang University graduate and former researcher at Microsoft Research Asia; sudo is his third start-up after Zepp, which was acquired by Huami, and Huojian Technology, which was acquired by UCommune. Hao Su holds a PhD in computer science from Stanford University, where he studied under Fei-Fei Li and worked on ImageNet, ShapeNet and PointNet; he later led robot-learning work including the SAPIEN simulator and the ManiSkill benchmark, and in 2026 joined Fudan University as a chair professor directing a general physical intelligence institute.
The first public product is #sudo R1, presented in April 2026 as a fully integrated robot system with self-developed hardware and software, driven by a manipulation-focused foundation model for object picking. The model combines a 3D world model with reinforcement learning and is trained entirely on simulation data with heavy visual randomisation, without real-world demonstrations. On its website the company reports about 98 percent first-attempt success and close to 100 percent within two attempts when picking objects not seen in training, under varied lighting, backgrounds, interference and obstacle-constrained placements, with fully closed-loop control that lets the robot route around obstacles. At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in July 2026 the company said R1 covered more than ten manipulation skills, including bimanual operation, deformable-object handling and precision assembly. Job postings for dexterous-hand test engineers, embedded hardware engineers and UMI data-collection hardware indicate in-house hand and data-capture hardware work, although no hand product has been announced. Dealroom also describes a developer platform aimed at other robotics companies.
The company has raised large rounds in a short time. In April 2026 it closed a Pre-A round reported at USD 500 million, at a valuation above USD 2 billion, with investors including CATL, Alibaba, Tencent, Ant Group, Hillhouse Ventures, IDG Capital and Lanchi Ventures. At the end of September 2026 it announced a further round of more than RMB 1 billion led by Shanghai Guotou Xiandao, Futeng Capital and Guotai Haitong, with Daohe, Dongfeng Asset Management, CDB Capital and others participating and existing shareholders including Xiaomi following on. The company said the funds will be used for full-stack technical development and large-scale validation in real industrial settings, and OFweek reported a planned production base in Shanghai's Lingang area.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
#sudo R1
Integrated robot system with in-house hardware and a manipulation foundation model trained only in simulation; picks unseen objects with ~98% first-attempt success.
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Contact sudo robotics
WEBSITE
https://www.sudo.aiHEADQUARTERS
China
Company Facts
Founded
2025
Primary Role
Software/Algorithm
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Asia-Pacific
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
Early-Stage VC
Funding Total
-
Keywords
