A Beijing-based robotics startup has made a notable leap in the race to bring human-like dexterity to machines. LinkerBot, founded in 2023 by Alex Zhou Yong, has developed a range of robotic hands for humanoid robots that are capable of replicating the kind of precise, nuanced movement that has long been considered the defining advantage of human hands over mechanical alternatives. The company recently closed a Series B financing round of nearly United States Dollars 217 million, which it plans to deploy in part by doubling the size of its research team before the end of 2026. Its existing clientele already includes institutions of considerable standing, among them Samsung Electronics, the University of Hong Kong, and Stanford University, reflecting the breadth of demand for high-performance dexterous robotics across both industry and academia.
The company’s product lineup spans a wide spectrum of capability, anchored by different configurations built around varying degrees of freedom, a key engineering metric that determines how many independent movements a robotic hand can execute. The entry-level O6 model offers 11 degrees of freedom and is constructed from lightweight polymer and compact components, allowing it to deliver a grip force of 50 kilograms while weighing only 370 grams. More advanced configurations offer approximately 20 degrees of freedom, which is comparable to a human hand. At the high end, the Linker Hand series supports between 6 and 42 degrees of freedom and is compatible with all major actuation technologies. The flagship L30 model achieves a positional accuracy of plus or minus 0.2 millimetres, making it suited for complex assembly applications where precision is non-negotiable. The O6 model is also reported to be 10 times more durable than competing products, while retailing at a fraction of their cost, a combination that the company argues addresses both the reliability and affordability gaps that have held back wider adoption of robotic dexterity solutions. LinkerBot had already shipped its 10,000th dexterous hand prior to this latest funding round, alongside securing an earlier raise of United States Dollars 150 million, cementing its early position as a market leader in this segment.
Zhou has spoken candidly about the philosophical underpinning of the company’s ambitions, citing the Japanese cartoon character Doraemon as an early inspiration. As a child, he believed the character’s futuristic gadgets held some secret, but later came to understand that it was the dexterity of human hands that made complex creation possible across history, from pottery to industrial machinery. That insight now drives LinkerBot’s stated goal to build one million dexterous hands capable of mastering one million distinct skills, spanning everything from household tasks to specialized industrial and medical procedures. To systematise this vision, the company has developed LinkerSkillNet, a proprietary library that converts human skills into standardised, reusable capabilities that can be transferred across different robotic platforms. The library currently holds approximately 500 skills, and Zhou expects that figure to double every six months as new capabilities are developed and added. Speaking about the potential scope of the technology, he noted that robotic hands equipped with these skills would eventually be capable of cooking, providing massages, and performing cosmetic tasks, effectively shifting the product proposition from selling hardware to selling an accumulating, upgradeable repository of learned abilities.
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