PNDbotics

PNDbotics is a full-stack developer and manufacturer focused on general-purpose humanoid robots. Founded in Ningbo in September 2023, the company's founding team includes CEO David Yan, CTO Peter Cui, and co-founder Zhang Zitao. Yan and Cui were co-founders of INNFOS, an earlier robotics venture, while Zhang is a former Global Partner at SoftBank Vision Fund.

The company operates a vertically integrated business model, controlling the entire process from in-house research and development to the production and sales of its robots and their core components. PNDbotics has established a PND Intelligent Manufacturing Center in Tianjin, which spans several thousand square meters and has an annual production capacity of hundreds of humanoid robots. This facility handles the manufacturing of key hardware, including proprietary Robot Controller Units (RCU), Battery Management Systems (BMS), and integrated modular actuators (PSA series), which cover torque ranges from 60 N·m to 340 N·m.

PNDbotics' flagship product is the 'Adam' series of humanoid robots. The first-generation Adam, launched in 2024, stands 1.67 meters tall, weighs 62 kilograms, and possesses 43 degrees of freedom. A key feature of the Adam robot is its bionic human-like hip design, which utilizes a three-degree-of-freedom structure and flexible force control joints to perform complex lower-body movements. The company’s software approach combines model-based gait planning and Whole-Body Control with deep reinforcement learning (DRL) and imitation learning algorithms, enabling the robots to learn complex tasks from multi-modal perception. This allows developers to use environments like the NVIDIA Isaac Gym for parallel DRL training.

In early 2026, the Adam robot gained significant public exposure with an appearance on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala programs. Shortly after, in February 2026, PNDbotics announced the completion of a major funding round amounting to hundreds of millions of yuan (tens of millions of dollars), led by CITIC Goldstone. The company stated the funds will be used for acquiring precision manufacturing equipment and furthering R&D. PNDbotics serves a global client base that includes research institutions and commercial enterprises such as RoboForce, Applied Intuition, ETH Zurich, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and Hong Kong logistics firm NEXX.

Keywords: humanoid robotics, full-stack developer, embodied intelligence, deep reinforcement learning, modular actuators, whole-body control, robot manufacturing, bionic design, gait planning, artificial general intelligence, motion control, service robotics, PND Smart Actuators, Adam robot, robotics platform, biomimetic design, AI robots, autonomous systems, robotic components, advanced manufacturing