"To do something more challenging, not because we are sure to do it well, but because it is my passion and dream all along. ”
At the end of 2023, the post-90s genius boy Zhihuijun raised funds again. Once again, it proves that the world is young after all.
Recently, Zhiyuan Robot has completed a new round of A3 round of financing, and the investors are still luxurious: Lanchi Venture Capital, Zhongke Chuangxing, CDH Investment, Changfei Fund, C Capital, etc.
Behind this company, there is a hottest post-90s generation, the founder was Huawei's "genius boy", and the B station up master with 2.5 million fans: Zhihuijun.
Why is this Huawei genius so favored by capital?
Zhihuijun, formerly known as Peng Zhihui, was born in Ji'an, Jiangxi Province in 1993, and went to live in Guangdong because of his parents' work transfer in his early years. According to public information, there is not much description of his childhood: he has not been a man of many words since he was a child, but he has a strong hands-on ability. CHILDREN WHO PLAY WITH A GAMEBOY HANDHELD WITH ONLY 32 TRILLION MEMORY LIKE PAINTING, PLAYING GUITAR, AND TABLE TENNIS.
In 2015, Peng Zhihui graduated from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and continued his postgraduate studies in the School of Information and Communication Engineering. During this period, Peng Zhihui showed strong hands-on ability and became well-known by shooting videos.
In 2017, he released 11 videos on station B, all of which were technology gadgets he made, and the number of views was very good. "Robots" have appeared frequently in his videos since then, including self-balancing robots, bipedal robots, table tennis robots, etc.
He is good at self-learning, and a lot of hardware knowledge is self-taught. Sichuan Online once commented that he is a person who is good at tossing. In addition to loving tossing, his execution is also super strong. In the video, he said that the day before the project was completed, and the video would be updated the next day, but it was really updated the next day.
There is no team, no professional photography equipment, I can only use my mobile phone to shoot videos, and I have to edit by myself. Editing a high-quality video in a day is not easy for professional editors, and it is simply impossible to do it without super execution. Based on this alone, Zhihuijun has already crushed many Up Lords.
In 2018, after graduating from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Peng Zhihui joined the AI laboratory of OPPO Research Institute as an algorithm engineer, where he worked for two years.
It was in 2020 that he really made a name for himself.
That year, with his excellent strength, Zhihuijun passed as many as 7 rounds of interviews, went through layers of selection, passed five levels and cut six generals, and finally successfully won the offer and joined Huawei as a "genius boy". After joining Huawei, Zhihuijun received the highest annual salary, that is, 1.82 million yuan to 2.01 million yuan, and became an expert in Ascend AI edge computing. He is mainly responsible for the research of Ascend AI chips and AI algorithms, and builds all-scenario AI infrastructure solutions.
After joining Huawei, Zhihuijun has made outstanding achievements and won many awards. For example, the President's Award, Gold Medal Team, Rising Star, etc., in the second year of entering Huawei, they were praised by Ren Zhengfei.
reached the salary ceiling at the age of 27, and was in the limelight for a while, and such dazzling results are really the envy of everyone.
At the same time, as a well-known UP master, Zhi Huijun also has more and more fans at Station B, known as "Wild Iron Man".
Zhi Huijun posted a lot of videos of self-developed robots on station B, with millions of views, such as the smallest self-made TV in 3 months, and even used the leftover crab shells to build a Mars rover that can be wirelessly controlled, target tracking, and laser ranging...... Today, Zhihuijun has more than 2.5 million fans on Station B.
And the self-driving bicycle he uploaded in June 2021 and the robotic arm released in October are the "gods" moment that really belong to Zhihuijun.
Zhi Huijun once emphasized that insisting on making these invention videos in his spare time is not to attract attention, but to fight monsters and upgrade.
Learn Xi through one project at a time, improve your knowledge and skills, and expand your boundaries again and again.
Marvel has Iron Man who saves the world, and Silicon Valley has Musk, the "real-life version of Iron Man" who explores space. And Zhihuijun said: "I want to be like Musk, with an adventurous spirit, design and make something, and use technology to change the future." ”
He has had a dream of robots since he was a child: "If the programmer is the god of the digital world, then give the robot a body shape with his own hands, and then use AI to give it a soul, this is the romance of a true geek!"
So, in 2022, when he was 30 years old, he quit his high-paying job at Huawei, gave up his promising future and platform, and chose to start his own business to pursue his dream and passion.
Was it sloppy and reckless, or was it bold and confident?
After leaving Huawei to start a business, Zhihuijun chose the direction of general-purpose humanoid robots for himself.
He has also considered other areas, such as autonomous driving. However, in the domestic environment, it is difficult to establish business logic for software alone. The most suitable products combining software and hardware are autonomous driving and robots, which is also the research direction that he has always been most interested in and ideal.
In February 2023, he founded a technology company called Zhiyuan Robotics, focusing on the R&D and application of general-purpose humanoid bipedal robots.
Humanoid robots, as the name suggests, are robots that can walk, work, and communicate like humans. A scene that can only be seen in science fiction movies, and now Zhihuijun wants to turn it into reality through entrepreneurship.
His entrepreneurial team is very young and hardcore, and the members are all talents from China's top universities, with an average age of less than 30 years old, including fresh graduates who have just graduated. They are engaged in high-tech jobs such as robotics research, artificial intelligence neuroscience, and top engineers.
Just half a year after the establishment of the company, in August, Zhiyuan Robot released the first generation of general-purpose humanoid bipedal robot "Expedition A1".
The "expedition" is 1.75 meters tall, weighs 53 kilograms, has 49 degrees of freedom in its body, has a maximum pace of 7 km/h, and a maximum load of 5 kilograms on one arm.
Not only can you walk on two feet to complete intelligent tasks, human-computer interaction and other operations, but you can also rely on vision sensors and multi-line lidar to avoid obstacles autonomously.
With 5 dexterous fingers, it can grasp objects like a human, complete various fine movements, and even complete tasks that humans cannot or are unwilling to do in various scenarios, such as automobile manufacturing, electronic assembly, household services, etc.
Although the press conference was very successful that day, Zhihuijun did not seem to be satisfied with his achievements, because he once said that "the cost of intelligent robots should be controlled within 200,000 yuan", which means that there are still some technologies and functions that need to be further improved and perfected.
According to Zhihuijun's previous disclosure, Zhiyuan Robot has cooperated with domestic new energy head car companies and 3C manufacturing manufacturers, hoping to realize the popularization and application of robots in various industries. In terms of housekeeping services, the "Expedition" has already equipped with functions such as cooking, serving food, and using laundry, drying, folding and ironing, and is expected to be qualified for the position of "robot butler" in the future. The future of the "expedition" is bright.
Superior strength is the best testimony to the pursuit of investment.
In just half a year, Zhihuijun's Zhiyuan Company has attracted a lot of capital. Many investors are investing in Zhihuijun himself and his team, and they are also confident and expecting the robot industry.
It is worth mentioning that the pre-investment valuation of this round is 3.5 billion yuan, and the financing amount exceeds 600 million yuan. At present, the company is in the process of a new round of financing, and the pre-investment valuation is expected to reach 7 billion yuan!
At this time, Zhihuijun was just 30 years old, handsome, golden, could play the piano, understood technology, and now he has become an entrepreneur, a wild Iron Man, and deserves his name.
In Zhihuijun's body, we see the best appearance of teenagers who love science and technology bravely chasing their dreams.
There are geniuses who change the world, but for such rare people, we just need to look up.
The so-called genius is nothing more than spending a lot of time, or even a lifetime, continuously devoting himself to the research he likes.
From the University of Electronic Science and Technology to OPPP, and then from Huawei to Zhiyuan, Zhihuijun has been firmly on the road of exploring general artificial intelligence. He is lucky, because there are still a few people who can combine his hobbies and careers so perfectly like him.