From robot dogs to AI doctors: Inside Hangzhou’s technology revolution
Hangzhou is increasingly being dubbed China’s new Silicon Valley. For entrepreneurs and tech talent alike, the city offers something many technology hubs struggle to balance: the infrastructure to build at speed, and the space to think creatively.
Passengers wait for their ride-hailing vehicles in front of a giant screen displaying real-time pickup information at Hangzhou West Railway Station.
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HANGZHOU, Zhejiang: At the ride-hailing pickup point at Hangzhou West Railway Station, there is none of the usual scramble of passengers waiting by the kerb.
Instead, commuters sit comfortably in an air-conditioned lounge, watching a giant screen that alerts them when their ride has arrived.
AI-powered cameras identify each vehicle’s parking bay and instantly relay that information to waiting passengers.
It is a small but revealing glimpse into a city where artificial intelligence has quietly moved beyond research labs and into everyday life, transforming how people live and work.
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Long known as the birthplace of e-commerce giant Alibaba, Hangzhou has evolved into one of China’s leading technology hubs.
A combination of engineering talent, deep pools of investment and business-friendly policies has fuelled the growth of more than 500 AI companies, including the so-called “Six Little Dragons” – DeepSeek, Deep Robotics, Game Science, Unitree Robotics, BrainCo and Manycore Tech.
Together, they are helping define China’s next wave of AI innovation.
While DeepSeek’s rapid rise has thrust the city back into the global spotlight, Hangzhou’s AI ambitions extend far beyond chatbots and large language models.
Across the capital of Zhejiang province, AI is being deployed in everything from healthcare and logistics to manufacturing, robotics and public services, with new applications emerging at a rapid pace.
MEET THE QUIRKY ROBOT CLEANER
At the campus of Udeer.AI, the startup is developing what it calls a “versatile brain” for machines.
One of its applications is an autonomous cleaning robot that does more than sweep.
To demonstrate, founder and CEO Robin Chen instructs the robot through an app on his phone: “Clean the road in front of Building Three.”
Moments later, it arrives where Chen is standing. Spotting a small group gathered around him – including a man in bright red shoes holding a camera – the robot addresses them politely.
“A few friends are chatting there. The man in the red shoes is taking pictures, so I’ll sweep gently,” it says. “I’m worried I might bump into you. Could you move a little?”
Chen says the robot interprets its surroundings in real time: “It can tell how many people there are, what they’re wearing, and even whether someone is male or female. It reacts accordingly.”
The machine is even programmed with a sense of humour.
“This patch of ground is so clean, I almost feel embarrassed to sweep it,” it quips.
Chen said the company’s breakthrough lies in what it calls “intelligent targeted cleaning”.
“For a site that’s already clean … if we still do a full coverage the way a home robot vacuum does, efficiency would be very low. This robot can recognise exactly where it needs to clean, which greatly improves efficiency,” he said.
“Our core product is a general-purpose intelligent brain. We want to adapt that brain to different devices so they can all be upgraded with such intelligence.”
ROBODOGS GET SMARTER & MORE AGILE
Elsewhere in Hangzhou, Deep Robotics is pushing quadruped robots beyond laboratory demonstrations and into real-world deployment. Such robots, which mimic the movements of four-legged animals, are getting smarter and more agile.
The firm’s Lynx M20 model combines wheels with four articulated legs, gliding across smooth surfaces and switching to legged movement when confronted with uneven terrain.
The robot can climb stairs, navigate forest trails, shake hands, balance on two legs and flatten its body to crawl beneath low obstacles. Even when pushed off balance, it quickly recovers.
Deep Robotics says the model is designed for tasks ranging from police patrols to last-mile deliveries.
Meanwhile, its X30 cousin – with more conventional legs – is the real workhorse.
The model targets industrial users. Equipped with thermal, gas and visual sensors, it can be used for patrolling substations, inspecting equipment and identifying faults without exposing workers to unnecessary risk.
The X30 robots have already found customers beyond China. In Singapore, the they are being used by utilities provider SP Group to inspect underground power tunnels.
The technology has helped propel Deep Robotics into the global market. By 2024, just seven years after its founding, the company had captured 18.9 per cent of the world’s market for four-legged robots – a remarkable share for a relatively young startup.
AN INSTITUTION AT THE HEART OF INNOVATION
Many of Hangzhou’s most successful AI startups share a common link: Zhejiang University.
The university has become one of China’s most important incubators for technology talent. It ranks among the world’s leading institutions for AI research output and, in 2025, placed eighth among global universities for patents filed.
Three of the “Six Little Dragons” – DeepSeek, Deep Robotics and Manycore Tech – were founded by its alumni.
“Our founders are both from Zhejiang University, and so am I,” said He Zhirun, a product engineer at Deep Robotics, adding that the firm continues to collaborate with the university.
“For example, in April this year, we jointly established an embodied intelligent robotics engineering technology center to carry out talent cultivation and tackle key research projects.”
The partnership reflects the close collaboration between academia and industry that has become a defining feature of Hangzhou’s technology ecosystem.
A CULTURE BUILT ON RISK TAKING & RATIONALITY
Talent may be the spark, but that alone does not explain the city’s remarkable startup boom.
Standing at the Qiantang River, which runs through the heart of Hangzhou, Zhou Kaibing looks to history to explain the city’s entrepreneurial spirit.
The chairman of the Hangzhou Entrepreneurship & Venture Association points out that more than 2,500 years ago, the river marked the border between the ancient kingdoms of Wu and Yue.
“The two sides differed greatly geographically. South of the river, the Yue kingdom was mountainous, resource-scarce and with limited land. So, the people went hunting in the mountains or fishing at sea. They developed a more adventurous spirit,” he said.
“North of the river under Wu kingdom had fertile plains and a farming culture, which fostered a more rational, farming mindset that if you work hard and till the land, you will be rewarded,” he added.
“For today’s startups, you need both rationality and a sense of adventure. Here at Qiantang River is where the two cultures meet. That’s why the city continues to produce great enterprises.”
Zhou also credited the local government for supporting businesses.
“The city’s openness, inclusiveness and service-oriented government have attracted many startups to Hangzhou,” he said.
Perhaps the strongest evidence, he added, is that none of the founders of the Six Little Dragons were born in Hangzhou.
“Yet, they all chose to build their companies here,” he said. “That’s the best testament to Hangzhou’s startup ecosystem.”
REINVENTING TCM WITH AI
AI has also found its way into one of China’s oldest practices – traditional Chinese medicine.
At Hangzhou Bamai Tech, patients begin a consultation by placing one hand on a diagnostic device while a camera photographs their tongue.
The system combines bioelectrical signals, tongue images and TCM principles before analysing the information using AI.
Chief executive Jason King said the company has conducted 157,626 clinical comparisons to validate its technology.
“Our diagnostic results can approach, even exceed, those of TCM practitioners,” he said.
King, who previously worked on banking data systems, said his own experiences with TCM inspired him to modernise the practice.
“One of the key drawbacks of TCM is that it lacks the modern supporting tools that Western medicine has for diagnosis. Ultimately, it still relies on practitioners using observation, listening, inquiry and pulse-taking,” he said.
“Our idea is to use modern technology to make TCM more objective, more quantitative and more traceable in its clinical practice.”
King has worked in several of China’s major innovation hubs, including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, but believes Hangzhou offers the country’s most supportive business environment.
“For example, for subsidies and tax rebates, government officials will proactively notify me that a subsidy is ready and to please apply,” he said.
“We simply log into the system, click, and the funds arrive almost instantly. This reflects the strong service mindset of the government here towards businesses.”
THE ALIBABA EFFECT
The city’s technology ecosystem continues to benefit from Alibaba’s far-reaching influence.
Thousands of engineers, product managers and researchers have passed through Alibaba and its affiliates before leaving to found startups of their own, bringing with them technical expertise, management experience and networks of investors.
Udeer’s Chen, also a Zhejiang University alumnus, spent 12 years leading robotics research at Alibaba’s Damo Academy before launching his company.
Several members of his core team also previously worked at Alibaba, while one of his firm’s largest investors is a venture capital fund founded by one of Alibaba’s co-founders.
Chen believes Hangzhou’s growing concentration of AI companies creates a powerful feedback loop.
“Ideas, new concepts, new thinking – they collide with and inspire each other. An ecosystem forms over time,” he said.
Just as important, he added, is the city’s dense network of suppliers, manufacturers and other companies across the supply chain that enables startups to develop, test and refine products at a faster pace.
Over at dental e-commerce supplier HMD Dentech, chairman John Lin has never worked at Alibaba but said the tech giant shaped the way he thinks about business.
After building one of China’s largest online platforms supplying dental clinics, Lin shifted into customised dental products such as aligners and implants as the business matured.
“We were influenced greatly by Alibaba’s culture,” he said.
“This includes our operating and service model, building front-end fulfilment hubs, live-streaming promotion, software development, big data analytics and talent recruitment. All these benefited from learning from the Alibaba ecosystem.”
Alibaba itself has expanded far beyond online retail into areas such as cloud computing.
Its payment arm, Alipay, gave rise to Ant Group – one of the country’s largest fintech conglomerates, now pushing into health.
Its AI-powered healthcare app AQ – built and tested in Hangzhou – offers services ranging from medical report interpretation to AI doctor avatars that can answer patients’ questions.
DATA, CAPITAL & TALENT
AI depends not only on computing power and algorithms but also on high-quality data.
At the Hangzhou Data Exchange, companies can securely trade data after undergoing strict compliance reviews designed to protect privacy and national security.
“The quality and scale of the data will determine the quality of the final AI model,” said the exchange’s chairman Ying Qi.
‘”The most important issue is compliance. More stakeholders are placing increasing emphasis on data circulation, security, privacy and even national security,” she added.
“To list and trade a data product on the exchange, it must go through a strict compliance review system. That helps companies judge whether there are compliance risks in a transaction.”
Through this compliance review process and the platform’s data asset valuation service, the exchange can also help companies unlock value from their data.
In one landmark case this year, the exchange helped an AI company developing a psychological model to secure a 10-million-yuan (US$1.4 million) credit line from a bank by using its data as collateral.
Venture capital completes the ecosystem.
Vision Plus Capital, founded by an Alibaba co-founder, is among the investment firms backing Hangzhou’s next generation of startups.
The firm’s managing partner Liu Yiran – formerly a Temasek investor behind early investments in Xiaomi, Meituan and Didi – believes the city has assembled the ingredients needed for sustained innovation.
Talent comes from across China. Many are trained at universities locally, often gaining some valuable experience at established firms before launching startups of their own.
Those startups attract capital, produce new successes, and in turn draw fresh talent and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.
It is an ecosystem that increasingly feeds on its own success. And in Hangzhou, the word “ecosystem” carries a double meaning: the city’s startup ecosystem is also shaped by its natural one.
A CITY WHERE IDEAS CAN BREATHE
Vision Plus Capital’s headquarters, for example, is nestled within the greenery of Xixi National Wetland Park, rather than in a conventional office tower. Liu said the setting changes the tone of business conversations with founders of startups seeking capital.
“When we talk outside, the scenery is better and people are more relaxed,” he said. “It is easier and faster to reach an agreement.”
Liu added that the scenic site is located on government-owned land, describing it as another way local authorities support venture capital firms.
That softer pull also helps attract talent.
Michael Li, chief AI scientist at AI life sciences company Mingdu Zhiyun, has studied and worked in multiple cities including Canberra, Oxford and London, before choosing to settle in Hangzhou.
He said the city is “a place that combines work and life”.
On weekends, he cycles around West Lake, drives to Qiandao Lake, visits Lingyin Temple or North Peak, or unwinds in the city’s restaurants and jazz bars – a lifestyle he says makes Hangzhou attractive to global talent.
Udeer.AI’s Chen agrees.
“Hangzhou’s environment is particularly good. This helps inspiration and creativity to flourish,” he said.
“Look at Silicon Valley in the United States, specifically its most famous city Mountain View. Perhaps it’s in such a relaxed environment that better stimulates creativity.”
The comparison is fitting. Hangzhou is increasingly being dubbed China’s new Silicon Valley, not only because of its concentration of tech companies, universities and venture capital, but also because of the quality of life it promotes.
For entrepreneurs and tech talent alike, the city offers something many technology hubs struggle to balance: the infrastructure to build at speed, and the space to think creatively.
Source: CNA/dn(mp)
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