JCBOT
JCBOT is the brand of Hubei JingChu Humanoid Robot Co., Ltd. (湖北荆楚人形机器人有限公司), a Wuhan company that develops, builds and sells humanoid robots and their core parts, with a focus on linear-drive joints that use ball screws and planetary roller screws instead of rotary motors. It grew out of the team of Academician Ding Han at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) and is led by founder Zhao Xingwei, a HUST professor. Research began in March 2024, the first prototype followed in February 2025, and the company was registered in April 2025 and settled in Wuchang District that May. Its JingChu family covers education and research (JingChu 1, about 170 cm and 65 kg), industrial handling (JingChu 2), commercial service (the wheeled JingChu Elf) and home companionship (JingChu Xiaochu). The company reports a dexterous hand with more than 20 degrees of freedom and early trials at a primary school, an airport and a hydropower station. It received its first funding from Hubei's 10 billion yuan humanoid robot mother fund in October 2025.
💡Notable Achievement: Its JingChu humanoid is one of the few in the world whose legs are driven by linear joint actuators instead of rotary motors.
What Does JCBOT Do?
JCBOT is the brand of Hubei JingChu Humanoid Robot, a Wuhan company whose humanoids walk on linear-drive legs developed by Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
“Humanoids with linear-drive legs from Wuhan.”
Linear Joints
Ball-screw and roller-screw legs instead of rotary motors.
HUST Roots
Built on Academician Ding Han's team.
JingChu Family
Education, industry, service and home models.
What Can JCBOT Robots Actually Do?
Cross-portfolio operational capabilities, manipulation tasks, and environmental competencies
Humanoids for research, industry, service and home.
Education and Research
Legged humanoid with voice interaction and large-model understanding.
JCBOT Robots
Showing 3 Humanoid Robots of 3 total models
JingChu Elf
By: JCBOT
Launched: 2025
JingChu Elf (荆楚精灵) is a wheeled service humanoid from JCBOT in Wuhan, built for greeting, guiding and talking with people. It stands 165 cm tall, weighs about 70 kg and has 16 degrees of freedom in the body (not counting the hands), mounted on a precision mobile base with SLAM navigation. LiDAR and a depth camera let it navigate on its own, lead visitors to a destination and recognise faces, while a built-in AI dialogue system handles spoken conversation. An onboard GPU delivers about 117 TOPS and can be extended with an external compute unit, and the battery lasts about 8 hours. JCBOT opens the control of every body motor and offers Python and C++ SDKs for developers. The company introduced the Elf in July 2025 and, in September 2026, released a refreshed version with a bionic arm that uses a biomimetic wrist and a one-piece shell, making it lighter and stiffer with better control accuracy.
JingChu Xiaochu
By: JCBOT
Launched: 2025
JingChu Xiaochu (荆楚小楚, 'Little Chu') is a small wheeled humanoid from JCBOT in Wuhan, aimed at tourism, entertainment and home companionship. It is 110 cm tall and weighs about 30 kg, and its rotary joint modules, flexible-control technology and multimodal sensing are meant to let it share a busy home safely with people. Each arm carries up to 1 kg, an optional dexterous hand adds finer manipulation, and the robot drives at up to 1.7 m/s on a 48 V 12 Ah battery for about 5 hours. Two RGB-D cameras, an inertial sensor and a four-microphone array feed an NVIDIA Jetson Orin computer, and Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and Ethernet connect it. Owners can customise its persona, voice, wake word and guide script, and it offers face recognition and visual autonomous navigation. A handheld remote, over-the-air updates and secondary development are supported. JCBOT released the Xiaochu in September 2025 and a refreshed look in early 2026.
JingChu 1
By: JCBOT
Launched: 2025
JingChu is a full-size bipedal humanoid robot from JCBOT (Hubei JingChu Humanoid Robot Co., Ltd.) in Wuhan, born in the lab of Academician Ding Han at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Its most unusual feature is in the legs: the knees are driven by planetary roller screw linear actuators, a joint design that few humanoids anywhere use, while the other joints use high-torque planetary gear modules. The robot stands 170 cm tall, weighs about 65 kg and has 26 body degrees of freedom plus six-degree-of-freedom humanoid hands as standard. It sees with LiDAR and depth cameras, talks through a microphone array and speaker with access to large language models, navigates on its own and runs for about 8 hours on its 48 V battery. JCBOT aims it at education, research and service work, and opens control of every motor through a Python and C++ SDK. JingChu debuted in Wuhan in February 2025 and entered mass production that June.
JCBOT Software & AI Ecosystem
Developer platforms, fleet management portals, autonomy intelligence, and enterprise integrations
JingChu VLA model
Embodied-AI model
Vision-language-action model for the JingChu humanoids' manipulation and interaction.
JCBOT Timeline & Milestones
Evolutionary history, landmark prototypes, major acquisitions, and commercial roadmap
JingChu humanoid research begins
Research on the JingChu humanoid with linear-joint drives begins, led by HUST professor Zhao Xingwei and building on Academician Ding Han's team.
Source: news.hubeidaily.net
First JingChu prototype completed
The team completes its first JingChu humanoid prototype.
Source: news.hubeidaily.net
Hubei JingChu Humanoid Robot registered
Hubei JingChu Humanoid Robot Co., Ltd. is formally registered in Wuhan.
Source: news.hubeidaily.net
Signs to settle in Wuchang District
The company signs an agreement to settle in Wuchang District, Wuhan.
Source: news.hubeidaily.net
Humanoid technology innovation center opens
The Hubei JingChu Humanoid Robot Technology Innovation Center is unveiled in Wuhan.
Source: news.hubeidaily.net
First funding from Hubei humanoid robot mother fund
JingChu receives its first batch of funding from the Hubei Humanoid Robot Mother Fund, a 10 billion yuan provincial fund.
Source: news.hubeidaily.net
JCBOT Competitors by Category
Direct industry rivals grouped by specific robotics domain
What Makes JCBOT Different?
Editorial AnalysisOrigin of Bots objective strategic assessment, engineering moats, and commercial hurdles
Key Strengths & Moats
- ✓Distinctive linear-joint leg design.
- ✓Strong university and provincial backing.
- ✓Own dexterous hand and joint modules.
Core Strategic Focus
Linear-drive humanoids for research and service.
Road Ahead & Challenges
- •Young company with early orders mostly from universities.
- •Few published specifications.
- •Crowded Chinese humanoid market.
JCBOT vs Key Competitors
Strategic capability matrix across platform categories, commercial readiness, and target markets
Category / Focus
- JingChu 1
- Linear-drive legged humanoid
- Tiangong
- Open humanoid platform
- Unitree H2
- Full-size humanoid
- GR-3
- Care and research humanoid
Primary Use
- JingChu 1
- Education, research, reception
- Tiangong
- Electric running, slope traversal
- Unitree H2
- Service, collaboration, research
- GR-3
- Elderly care assistance
Weight
- JingChu 1
- About 65 kg
- Tiangong
- 43 kg
- Unitree H2
- 70 kg
- GR-3
- 71 kg
Release Year
- JingChu 1
- 2025
- Tiangong
- 2024
- Unitree H2
- 2025
- GR-3
- 2025
| Strategic Dimension | JingChu 1 | Tiangong | Unitree H2 | GR-3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category / Focus | Linear-drive legged humanoid | Open humanoid platform | Full-size humanoid | Care and research humanoid |
| Primary Use | Education, research, reception | Electric running, slope traversal | Service, collaboration, research | Elderly care assistance |
| Weight | About 65 kg | 43 kg | 70 kg | 71 kg |
| Release Year | 2025 | 2024 | 2025 | 2025 |
Corporate Ecosystem & Ownership Structure
Parent company relationships, historical acquisitions, and global operating facilities
Shouyi Kechuang Investment Group
Early investor; also provides offices and research space in Wuchang.
Ownership & Acquisition History
Early investor; also provides offices and research space in Wuchang.
Provincial fund of 10 billion yuan; provided JingChu's first funding in October 2025.
Founder and HUST professor who leads the technical team.
Academician Ding Han's team at HUST created the JingChu humanoid.
Global Facilities & Operating Hubs
JCBOT Headquarters
HQWuhan, Hubei, China
Wuhan Shuchuang Building, Binjiang Shuchuang Corridor, Wuchang District.
Frequently Asked Questions
8 AnswersVerified answers, company specifications, and deployment details about JCBOT
What is JCBOT?
JCBOT is the brand of Hubei JingChu Humanoid Robot Co., Ltd., a Wuhan company that develops and sells humanoid robots and core parts such as linear-drive joints, growing out of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
What makes JingChu different from other humanoids?
JingChu's legs are driven by linear joints using ball screws and planetary roller screws rather than rotary motors. The company says this lowers energy use, extends endurance and steadies walking on uneven ground.
What robots are in the JingChu family?
JingChu 1 is for education and research, JingChu 2 for industrial handling and inspection, the wheeled JingChu Elf for commercial service, and the small JingChu Xiaochu for home companionship.
How big is JingChu 1?
JingChu 1 stands about 170 cm tall and weighs about 65 kg. It has a legged body, voice interaction and large-model language understanding for teaching and research use.
Who founded Hubei JingChu Humanoid Robot?
Zhao Xingwei, a professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, founded it. The technology comes from the HUST team of Academician Ding Han, and the company was registered in Wuhan in April 2025.
Who funds JingChu?
Shouyi Kechuang Investment Group made an early investment and provides offices, and in October 2025 the company received its first funding from the Hubei Humanoid Robot Mother Fund, a 10 billion yuan provincial fund.
Where have JingChu robots been used?
The company reports robots interacting with students at Guanggu No. 1 Primary School, assisting security work at Tianhe Airport and carrying out inspections at a hydropower station.
Does JingChu have its own robot hand?
Yes. The company reports a dexterous hand with more than 20 degrees of freedom and fingertip sensitivity of about 1 gram, combining vision, touch and hearing to adjust its grip.
Verified Data & Editorial Assurance
Compiled from verified corporate filings, official JCBOT datasheets, and robotics engineering registries. Data is monitored and audited on an ongoing basis for accuracy. For commercial procurement or proprietary integrations, contact the manufacturer directly.