Poke Robotics

Poke Robotics, or 破壳机器人, is the robotics startup founded by Xu Huazhe and discussed in 166: 许华哲再次具身创业：不想错过最大的西瓜. Xu says he started the company after leaving Xinghaitu because he wanted to pursue ideas that may require his own leadership and route conviction.

The company’s stated direction is general household robotics rather than a narrow industrial machine. Xu frames the long-term target as Physical AGI, with a first stage focused on building a robot body, training AI models, and defining the household product together.

Key Points

• The first product direction is a home robot, with a wheeled dual-arm form likely to enter before a fully bipedal humanoid.
• Xu says the team should rely on the robotics ecosystem for many components rather than vertically integrating every camera, motor, or coil.
• The company places “extreme” focus at the top of its culture because Xu believes organizational attention is limited.
• Early product boundaries exclude high-risk direct body-care tasks such as feeding, baby handling, massage, or turning people over.
• The company needs 2C hardware engineers, top AI researchers, and product people who can define a new consumer robot category.

Connections

• Xu Huazhe — founder.
• Physical AGI, AI Native Robotics, and Unified Robot Models — technical route.
• Home Service Robots, Consumer Robotics Full Stack, and Household Robot Data Flywheel — product and deployment context.
• Robot Active Use Metrics — usage standard Xu prefers over shipments or demos.
• Xinghaitu — Xu’s previous company context.