CREATE THE NEXT GENERATION OF INTELLIGENT WORKFORCE.
On June 3, 2026, Spirit AI, a leading embodied intelligence company in China, and Schaeffler, a motion technology company, officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement. With a shared commitment to the long-term development of embodied intelligence, the two companies will deepen collaboration in areas including embodied AI data collection, core components for humanoid robots, and applications across diverse industrial scenarios. By bringing together their respective strengths across the industrial ecosystem, the partnership aims to accelerate the transition of embodied foundation model technologies from the laboratory to real-world industrial applications.
Sun Haitian (front left), General Manager of Schaeffler Embodied Intelligence Robotics (Taicang) Co., Ltd., and Cong Yuanliang (front right), Vice President of Sales at Spirit AI, sign the strategic cooperation agreement.
The signing was witnessed by Dr. Zhang Yilin (second from left, back row), CEO of Schaeffler Greater China; Dr. Chen Xiangbin (first from left, back row), President of Schaeffler’s E-Mobility Division in Greater China; Han Fengtao (second from right, back row), Founder and CEO of Spirit AI; and Zheng Lingyin (first from right, back row), Co-founder and COO of Spirit AI.
High-quality data collection in real-world environments and iterative training of foundation models are essential to bringing embodied intelligence out of the laboratory, closing the gap between technological development and real-world deployment, and ultimately enabling applications at scale.
As a leading embodied intelligence company dedicated to building a general-purpose embodied brain for robots, Spirit AI has developed the Spirit series of embodied foundation models, which have achieved world-leading performance. The company has also established a distributed data superfactory system and built one of China’s largest real-world robotic data collection teams, creating a complete closed loop spanning models, robotic hardware, data, and commercialization. In 2026, Spirit AI expects to accumulate over one million hours of real-world interaction data as a major milestone in its data strategy.
With more than a century of technological expertise, Schaeffler is a global motion technology leader with decades of experience in intelligent manufacturing and industrial automation. Its operations span 55 countries, with more than 250 locations worldwide. Schaeffler has world-leading capabilities in the development and manufacturing of core sensors, actuators, and transmission components, supported by extensive advanced manufacturing environments and a mature global supply chain. With more than three decades of experience in China, Schaeffler has become a key industrial partner in the intelligent transformation of the manufacturing sector.
Building on their complementary strengths, Spirit AI and Schaeffler will collaborate on embodied AI data collection and applications, establishing an integrated technology loop of “real-world data → embodied models → real-world applications” to support the development and deployment of embodied intelligence.
The two companies will also deepen cooperation in core components for humanoid robots. In addition to establishing a stable, long-term strategic procurement partnership, Spirit AI and Schaeffler will jointly explore the development of relevant components based on evolving industry trends and technological requirements in embodied intelligence and humanoid robotics. Through mutual technological empowerment, the partnership aims to accelerate innovation and continuous product iteration.
Embodied intelligence and humanoid robotics are currently at a pivotal stage, transitioning from technological R&D toward large-scale industrial deployment. Building a robust ecosystem that closely connects upstream and downstream partners—and enables technology and industry to advance together—is essential to accelerating commercialization.
The partnership between Spirit AI and Schaeffler represents more than a collaboration between two companies. It brings together a frontier general-purpose embodied AI brain and a world-class industrial hardware manufacturing ecosystem, marking a new paradigm for collaboration across the embodied intelligence value chain.
By bridging the longstanding divide between software algorithms and hardware manufacturing, the partnership enables deeper integration between cutting-edge artificial intelligence and established industrial supply chains.
Through full-value-chain collaboration, the two companies will build an efficient “scenario-data flywheel”, helping bridge the final gap between general-purpose robotics technology and deployment across diverse manufacturing environments.
Building on this partnership, Spirit AI and Schaeffler also aim to attract and empower more upstream and downstream partners across the industrial value chain, jointly exploring new industry standards for the era of embodied intelligence. By bringing together expertise from across the ecosystem, the partnership will help strengthen the foundations of the industry and support China’s embodied intelligence sector in maintaining a leading position globally.
Spirit AI Founder and CEO Han Fengtao said:
“Large-scale deployment of embodied intelligence depends on deep collaboration across the entire industrial value chain. Schaeffler brings extensive expertise in industrial manufacturing and core components, together with a global industrial ecosystem that is highly complementary to Spirit AI’s embodied foundation model technologies and real-world deployment capabilities. Together, we will connect the entire chain—from industrial data collection and collaborative R&D of core components to applications in manufacturing environments—building an industrial closed loop in which real-world data continuously drives model iteration. Through deeper value-chain collaboration, we aim to accelerate embodied intelligence from the laboratory into real-world applications and build a stronger foundation for the industry.”
Dr. Zhang Yilin, CEO of Schaeffler Greater China, said:
“Our strategic partnership with Spirit AI marks another important step in Schaeffler’s continued expansion across the embodied intelligence and humanoid robotics ecosystem. Spirit AI is a technology leader in embodied foundation models. By combining our respective strengths, we will deeply integrate real-world industrial environments with frontier intelligent technologies—from real-world data and continuous model optimization to deployment in practical applications. Together, we aim to remove barriers to real-world implementation and contribute to the continued development of the embodied intelligence industry.”
Looking ahead, Spirit AI will remain committed to its vision of “Creating the Next Generation of Intelligent Workforce.” By continuing to collaborate with industrial partners worldwide, the company will leverage its full-stack capabilities across models, data, hardware, and real-world scenarios to accelerate the deployment of embodied intelligence across industries.
By connecting AI with the physical world, Spirit AI aims to help usher in a new era of intelligent industrial transformation.