Pudu Robotics founder Zhang Tao: Humanoid robots will be bigger than cars

In Singapore, you might see robots perform delivery or floor-cleaning tasks within the premises of a number of big hospitals, healthcare groups, clinics, rehabilitation centres, community clubs and other public service organisations.

There is a good chance the robots are from Pudu Robotics, a Shenzhen company that is one of the world's biggest commercial service robot manufacturers. Zhang Tao, the founder and CEO, is only 40 this year.

A Sichuan native, Zhang is a mechanical and aerospace engineering graduate from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). During his student days, he conducted research in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, as well as computer vision and graphics, and participated in various robotics competitions. Today, he has more than 350 robotics patents and four academic papers under his name. 

While pursuing his master’s degree in Hong Kong, he grew familiar with Shenzhen through frequent cross-border commutes. The vibrant innovation and start-up scene in Shenzhen, together with its comprehensive hardware industry chain, drew Zhang to kickstart his career there. 

With so much academic know-how, Zhang’s founding of Pudu Robotics may seem like a given, but this is actually his third start-up.

When I asked him, “Which of your three entrepreneurship journeys is the hardest?” 

He thought briefly before answering, “The second, in household companion robots. I went in too early and the technology was not quite there yet.”

His second start-up company is EZ Robotics. Zhang led his team in the development of speech interaction, sensing and mechanical actions, but none achieved sufficient technological sophistication. While they managed to develop products, there was always something inadequate in them. 

Zhang founded tech media platform Leiphone as his first start-up, acting as its founding editor and CEO. He feels that his most important takeaway from the experience is to go ahead with a business idea so long as the general direction is right. 

Starting a business, Zhang believes, is about managing uncertainty. Absolute certainty is impossible; what matters is whether an idea is viable. “The process is bound to be full of challenges, so you need to find ways to marshal the resources to overcome them,” he said. 

As for why he chose robotics, Zhang said it has been his passion since his university days. He shared, “When I was doing my master’s in HKUST’s department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, my research was on AI, robotics, and computer vision and graphics, and I acquired more than 60 robotics patents.”  

He added, “All my experiences are valuable. In various aspects from technology, product, business, teams, to partners, and even what it means to be entrepreneurial, I have a deeper understanding now than during my previous two ventures.”

Entrepreneurship is like driving a car, both a sense of direction and rhythm are crucial. “It is very difficult for someone else to teach you about ‘feel’. You can only learn as you go along and experience it on your own. I think my rhythm for starting a business is much better than before,” he said.

Zhang also enjoys long-distance biking as it helps him organise his thoughts and recharge when under pressure at work.

Unlike many in their 40s who settle into a more measured pace, Zhang says he is improving faster each day. He said, “Maybe it’s due to the experience gained. My understanding of business, product, technology, or even relationships with business partners is better, and I am improving every day. As I progress, I feel I know too little, which only makes me want to learn more. It may sound paradoxical, but it’s an interesting state of dynamic equilibrium — and a pretty good one.”

Zhang’s idea for his third start-up came to him one night at the start of 2016.

He was enjoying a meal with several friends when they were interrupted by a commotion at a neighbouring table. A middle-aged man was berating the service staff for bringing the wrong dish and poor service. The tirade lasted for around half an hour. 

A thought popped up for Zhang: if only there were robot servers.

Then, the diner might not have kicked up such a big fuss and the service staff would not have to suffer such indignity. After that, Zhang carried out field research and explored the idea further. He found that in the food and beverage (F&B) industry, servers make over 200 trips a day on average, and the technology is there for robots to take over this instead.

In addition, the size of the Chinese F&B market already surpassed 4 trillion RMB (around US$575 billion), so the prospects for robot servers looked promising. With more than a million servers, it is theoretically possible for the robot server market to reach 100 billion RMB in size.

Another reason why Zhang chose to enter this market is because scant attention was paid to it. So, he decided to switch his focus from households to businesses, not because they are easier to handle, but because of the immense potential of this unexplored sector. 

He explained, “I did a simple analysis. The forms of household robots such as sweepers and vacuum cleaners are already fixed, and industrial robots also follow established designs. But for commercial service robots, no one knew what form they should take, what they should do, or how they should be designed. In other words, there were no common standards — and that was a huge opportunity.”

On 13 January 2016, Zhang and his start-up team set out to redefine the seemingly simple act of “serving” that has been long reliant on manual labour, starting from the F&B industry.

During this initial phase, the robotics industry was still in the early development stage and plagued by problems such as cost constraints, inadequate technology and shortage of early adopter training. At the same time, the robotics industry value chain was beset with difficulties like significant gaps, poor innovation in key technologies, and high-end products suffering from quality and reliability problems. So, Zhang seemed to be “fighting a war” every day.

Scaling up to reduce costs is almost impossible for start-ups. Hence, Zhang brought costs down using early-phase research and development (R&D) to replace components and come up with innovative manufacturing methods. This also built a foundation for mass production. 

In 2017, Pudu Robotics launched its first robot, the PuduBot. It was the first robot in the industry capable of carrying multiple food trays. The product was well received and earned widespread market recognition, allowing the company to gain a solid foothold in the industry. Zhang shared that his primary focus then was technological and product refinement. At the same time, he was validating the market fit of his product.

By the beginning of 2019, Pudu Robotics was working with famous F&B chains such as Haidilao that were using its commercial delivery robots to serve meals. The success of such collaborations allowed the company to move steadily ahead in its development.

A successful entrepreneurship cannot do without the right timing and opportunities. The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic at the start of 2020 proved a turning point for Pudu Robotics. 

At that time, F&B businesses everywhere ceased operations temporarily; consequently, the company also ground to a halt. Zhang recalled, “We were only able to pay our staff half their usual salaries and were unable to head out to meet clients.” But there was an unexpected silver lining.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2020, the company received enquiries from communicable disease control authorities and hospitals in Shenzhen and Hangzhou for contactless delivery solutions. With little consideration for commercial returns — and amid disruptions to normal operations — Zhang and his team, driven by a desire to support the community, devised an action plan within 24 hours to deploy technology to help mitigate the pandemic.

Technical staff and many robot servers from Pudu Robotics were deployed to the frontlines. Altogether, the company provided more than 300 robots for free to hospitals and communities in need. 

Unexpectedly, the deployment of these robots for contactless hospital deliveries was picked up by a television news outlet and highlighted as an exemplary use of technology during the pandemic. A crisis turned into a business opportunity. New orders followed, reshaping the company’s development trajectory.

At the end of 2021, Pudu Robotics diversified by launching its first commercial cleaning robot. In May 2024, it launched its first industrial delivery robot model, the PUDU T300. By then, its product lines straddled service delivery, professional cleaning and industrial delivery.

Today, the company has delivered more than 100,000 robots that are used in more than 80 countries and regions globally. Overseas clients account for more than 80% of its business, making it a truly international enterprise. In August 2024, the company completed its manufacturing facility in Jianhu county, Yancheng city, Jiangsu, with an annual production capacity of up to 100,000 robots.

Since its inception, Pudu Robotics has undergone a fresh round of financing almost every year. Since 2020, it has received investments from companies such as Meituan, HongShan Capital Group and Tencent. Due to business reasons, Zhang was unable to disclose further details about these capital injections.

Nonetheless, based on reporting by multiple media outlets, the company’s valuation exceeded US$1 billion following the financing round completed in May 2023, making it a newborn unicorn.

Zhang considers Singapore a key node in his global expansion plan. “Singapore is an important node for us in Southeast Asia, we have plans to make it our regional headquarters,” he said.

He continued, “For now, the priority is how to further localise our Singapore business. Setting up a company is relatively easy, but the key is how to keep refining its operations. This requires plenty of hard work and is the focus of our next stage of development in Singapore.” 

As of now, over 650 Pudu robots have been deployed in Singapore, with a significant number found in healthcare settings such as large hospitals, healthcare groups, clinics and rehabilitation centres to form a part of the country’s smart healthcare system.  

Other robots are deployed to clean government premises, community clubs, smart buildings and public service spaces more efficiently. For instance, all 32 community clubs in Singapore now use over 50 PUDU CC1 cleaning robots to handle daily tasks such as sweeping and mopping.

In 2023, Singapore’s Changi General Hospital also trialled the use of six FlashBot robots to deliver medicine throughout the various levels of a building, and two PuduBot 2 robots to deliver blankets within the same level.

Furthermore, Singapore’s rapid transit operator plans to deploy 30 PUDU CC1 cleaning robots in stations on the Thomson-East Coast MRT line in January 2026 to perform automated cleaning. 

While delivery robots helped Pudu Robotics take off, Zhang believes that the next phase of its development hinges on humanoid robots.

Zhang divided humanoid robots into two groups, for “simple” and “serious” applications. The former is used in education, R&D and for display purposes. They are cheaper and faster to manufacture, making them suitable for commercial trials. As for the latter, they are technically complex and represent the industry’s future. These are mainly deployed in factories, warehouses, supermarkets and communities.

At the end of 2024, Zhang’s company launched its D9 humanoid robot. Before this, it also introduced semi-humanoid and quadruped robot types. While the D9 is scheduled for mass production, it will mainly be used for “simple” applications initially.  

Zhang said, “They will be provided to universities and research organisations for research work, and to businesses in the entertainment industry or ‘emotional economy’. Such applications are less demanding, so they can be commercialised immediately. But this doesn’t mean we are not interested in the ‘serious’ applications market. 

“In fact, I think they complement each other. Only after selling a product can you know what needs improving. So, I feel that the ‘simple’ applications business segment will accelerate the commercialisation of humanoid robots for ‘serious’ uses.”

Zhang also admitted that at the moment, humanoid robots can only handle a limited number of tasks independently, and more improvements are needed for substantial adoption of the technology. Nonetheless, he believes now is the time to move forward.

To Zhang, semi-humanoid robots — which have human-like upper bodies and wheeled bases — are easier to market than humanoid ones. They can deftly complete tasks using robotic arms. For instance, the PUDU D7 semi-humanoid robot lifts up to 10 kilogrammes with its bionic arms, with the end-point precision of each as fine as 0.1 millimetres, equipping it to complete tasks in various scenarios.  

The humanoid robot market will continue to expand. As to how big it can grow, Zhang replied confidently, “It will be bigger than the automobile market.”

His reason is clear-cut. While a household may only own one car, it might own multiple humanoid robots; it is the same at the workplace. Further down the road, everyone may have a humanoid robot companion. 

Zhang envisioned that “the commercial robot industry will maintain a high pace of growth for many years to come”. In the case of Pudu Robotics, sales grew by over 100% year-on-year in 2025. 

In terms of profits, Pudu Robotics has managed to break even. Zhang added, “As long as we continue to invest in R&D, profits will only come later. But our aim is to come out on top in the next five years to a decade, so if we don’t invest in R&D now, we will not win the middlegame.”

Before we ended our conversation, I asked Zhang, “Given your experience, what would you most like to share with young entrepreneurs?”

He answered, “Every entrepreneur should strive to do what they want instead of courting investors. You should do your work well so that investors come looking for you instead. That is the ideal state. The journey is a tough but happy one, just enjoy the process.”

This article was first published in Lianhe Zaobao as “早人物：普渡科技创始人张涛 三次创业渐渐掌握节奏 机器人是赛道也是舞台”.

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