‘Little Dragon’ Deep Robotics scrambles for top talent amid China’s quest for dominance

The company needs talent in the algorithm area to help fine-tune its humanoid robots, top executive Li Chao says

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Hangzhou-based Deep Robotics debuted its biped humanoid robot DR01 at the World Robot Conference last year. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:00am, 25 Oct 2025

Deep Robotics, a Hangzhou-based start-up, is facing a severe talent shortage, hindering its efforts to commercialise the results of its research and development, according to its chief technology officer (CTO).

Li Chao, who is also a co-founder of the robot maker, said at the Bund Summit Financial Forum in Shanghai on Friday that highly skilled professionals were very much needed to help Deep Robotics take its business forward.

He added that top talent in the algorithm area was in strong demand, which the company needed to fine-tune its humanoid robots to better serve clients.

“Robots are [penetrating] every manufacturing sector,” Li said. “As a company, we must seize the opportunity to make our products not only usable but also reliable in some industrial scenarios.”

Deep Robotics has launched the DR02 industrial-grade robot capable of operating reliably under all weather conditions. Photo: Handout

Deep Robotics was founded by CEO Zhu Qiuguo in 2017, when he was an associate professor at Zhejiang University.

The company is part of an unofficial group of start-ups dubbed the “Six Little Dragons of Hangzhou”, alongside artificial intelligence developer DeepSeek, video game studio Game Science, brain-machine interface innovator BrainCo, 3D interior design software developer Manycore and robot maker Unitree Robotics.

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