Produced by | Zhangtongshe
Why are investors willing to make heavy bets at the angel stage?
Recently, MoSense (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "MoSense") completed a hundred-million-yuan-level Angel+ round of financing. This round was led by CDH Investments and Oasis Capital, with follow-on investment from LimX Dynamics, Loongson Venture Capital, CAS Star, Huashan Capital, Pudong Venture Capital, and a leading domestic embodied AI manufacturer.
MoSense was established in May 2026, incubated by the champion team from the HKUST Robotics Competition. The company focuses on full-body multimodal tactile solutions for humanoid robots, offering flexible electronic skin, multimodal sensors, tactile-integrated robots, and custom services for special-purpose robots.
Having completed two rounds of financing within less than half a year since its inception, this young company stands behind a critical trend: tactile perception is becoming a key bottleneck for the deployment of humanoid robots.
HKUST PhDs Start BusinessAddressing the Robot "Tactile Blind Spot"
The core founding team of MoSense comprises interdisciplinary master's and doctoral graduates from HKUST, Imperial College London, Zhejiang University, and other institutions.
Co-founder and CEO Yan Chaoxu graduated from the Department of Microelectronics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), possessing extensive industry-academia-research experience in RF electromagnetic fields, advanced electronic devices, and multimodal sensing. He designed the world's first meter-scale self-tracking electromagnetic focusing wireless charging system, which is permanently displayed as a star research achievement by HKUST. Several microelectronic devices he developed have achieved mass production.
Co-founder and CTO Dr. Zhou Hang graduated from the Robotics program at HKUST. He previously served as a Senior Algorithm Researcher at Desay SV (Singapore), leading the R&D of autonomous driving perception modules. His technical solutions helped his team win an award at the 2021 World Autonomous Driving Challenge.
The team addresses a structural gap in robot tactile perception.
As humanoid robots move from demonstration scenarios to real-world complex environments such as industrial manufacturing, logistics handling, and home services, comprehensive generalized perception capabilities are becoming a major constraint on deployment. While vision acquires environmental information, touch perceives physical interaction states such as contact, force, and friction, serving as the foundation for stable manipulation and autonomous decision-making.
However, current robot tactile systems primarily focus on dexterous hands, leaving the torso, limbs, and feet lacking in perception. For consumer-grade robots, full-body tactile sensing means avoiding accidental collisions with objects and reducing fall incidents; for robots directly serving humans in elderly care or childcare, full-body tactile sensing is essential to capture sensitive information during human-robot interaction.
MoSense positions itself not just as an electronic skin provider, but as a tactile structural component supplier.
The team integrates tactile sensing directly into structural components, allowing these parts to fit the complex curved surfaces of robots during the molding phase, thereby reducing issues associated with subsequent attachment. Different materials such as silicone, rubber, and foam, along with complex curved structures, are currently within the scope of adaptation.
From Hardware to World ModelsFull-Stack Tactile Solution
MoSense's product layout revolves around three lines: MoSkin, a full-body electronic skin hardware; MoTact, a multimodal fusion tactile algorithm; and MoWorld, a multimodal fusion tactile world-action model.
At the hardware level, MoSense starts with the underlying mechanical structure, employing controllable artificial lattice structures with auxetic properties. This structure can distribute external loads through directional rotation and deformation of the lattice when subjected to force, protecting internal sensing units during high impacts while maintaining extremely high sensing sensitivity under minute forces. This solves the problem where traditional tactile sensors struggle to balance high sensitivity with a wide measurement range.
In terms of manufacturing processes, the company uses magnetically assisted light-curing 3D printing technology to directly process materials with specific lattice structures into integrated tactile structural components. By introducing magnetic units to form electromagnetic lattices, the company balances low mass-production costs with the capability to mold complex curved surfaces.
Based on proprietary "programmable mechanical performance" technology, the same underlying technology can adjust the mechanical properties of materials and microscopic lattice structures according to the needs of different robot body parts. Fingertips requiring higher sensitivity can be designed to be softer; soles requiring impact resistance can have reinforced structural support; and the torso can achieve a balance between large-area sensing and structural strength.
At the algorithm level, MoTact acts as the "tactile cerebellum," responsible for converting multi-axis magnetic field signals collected by the hardware into perceptual information such as force, displacement, slip, and material properties, optimizing algorithms for different body part applications. Its technical capabilities include sparse super-resolution, complex topology integration, anti-drift and anti-magnetic interference, and kHz-level high-speed array sampling. The goal is to enable robots to identify contact states and external forces more promptly, providing feedback for high-frequency actions such as grasping, manipulation, and contact control.
At the model level, MoSense is simultaneously advancing MoWorld, a multimodal fusion tactile world-action model based on touch. Compared to relying solely on vision for environmental judgment, touch provides information on contact force, object deformation, and local interaction states. The company aims to use high-frequency, multi-dimensional tactile feedback to continuously correct judgments and controls during robot action execution, incorporating tactile information as physical priors into the model to narrow the gap between simulation training and real-world execution.
Currently, MoSense's full-body tactile system is advancing collaborations with several leading robot OEMs. On the model side, the company has partnered with leading robot ODM/OEM firms to promote the integrated deployment of the overall tactile system and models, providing robots with a complete tactile-brain solution. Beyond humanoid robot-related business, intelligent solutions across multiple industries are accelerating commercial implementation.
Why Investors Bet Heavy at the Angel Stage
MoSense previously secured an angel round involving Sequoia China, Hillhouse Venture Capital, and AgiBot. In this Angel+ round, CDH Investments and Oasis Capital led the investment, followed by LimX Dynamics, Loongson Venture Capital, CAS Star, Huashan Capital, Pudong Venture Capital, and a leading domestic embodied AI manufacturer.
Established in May 2026, the company completed two consecutive rounds of financing in less than six months. The investor lineup covers top-tier financial VCs, industrial capital, and local state-owned assets, pointing to a shared judgment: tactile perception is transitioning from a "dexterous hand accessory" to "full-body infrastructure."
Lead investors CDH Investments and Oasis Capital represent long-term deep engagement in hard tech and advanced manufacturing, and systematic layout in robotics and smart hardware, respectively. Their joint leadership indicates that capital has reached a consensus on MoSense's positioning as a "full-stack tactile solution" provider.
Among follow-on investors, industrial capital holds significant weight. LimX Dynamics is a representative domestic embodied AI body manufacturer; their participation brings not only funds but also opportunities for validating and iterating tactile solutions on real bodies. The follow-on investment from a leading domestic embodied AI manufacturer similarly points to scenario synergy.
CAS Star and Huashan Capital are regulars in early-stage hard tech investment. The former relies on the Chinese Academy of Sciences system, with profound accumulation in optoelectronics, semiconductors, and new materials; the latter has long focused on advanced manufacturing and smart hardware.
Pudong Venture Capital's entry corresponds to MoSense's industrial attribute of being located in Shanghai Pudong. Support from local state-owned assets in terms of facilities, policies, and supply chain connections serves as a tangible accelerator for a hardware company established less than six months ago.
The early involvement of angel round investors Sequoia China, Hillhouse Venture Capital, and AgiBot also confirms market recognition of this technical route and team execution. AgiBot, an embodied AI body manufacturer, appearing on the early shareholder list itself illustrates the interlocking relationship between tactile solutions and body requirements.
Tactile sensation is not a new concept, but few companies globally can execute the complete chain from structural components, sensors, algorithms to world models for full-body multimodal tactile sensing. MoSense chose a heavier path—not acting as a single electronic skin supplier, but making touch an integral part of the robot's structure. Whether this path can deliver results in scaled mass production and customer adoption remains the true test ahead.
Text | Dayu Editor | Yida