(Yicai) Jan. 22 -- Vita Dynamics, a Chinese robotics startup founded last month, has secured nearly CNY100 million (USD13.7 million) in seed financing, led by artificial intelligence chipmaker Horizon Robotics and private equity giant Hillhouse Investment.

Other investors include Vision Plus Capital, Baidu Ventures, Monad Ventures, and Borui Capital, founded by Li Ping, vice chairman of battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology, the Beijing-based startup announced today. Vita will use the proceeds to build a core team and develop products. It plans to release robot products and related technologies this year.

Founded last December, Vita aims to develop robots based on the concept of embodied intelligence, which refers to systems that learn and adapt by interacting with their physical environment rather than relying on pre-programmed algorithms. Its founding team includes Yu Yinan, former vice chairman at Horizon, Zhao Zhelun, former director of intelligent driving products at smart car company Li Auto, and Song Wei, ex-chief architect of Horizon's software platform.

"The next frontier of AI is physical AI," Nvidia's Chief Executive Jensen Huang said in his speech on the opening night of CES earlier this month, revealing a host of new AI products that enable more independent and dynamic decision-making by computers.

Several Chinese automotive, autonomous driving and robotics companies are doubling down on embodied AI this year. Carmaker GAC Group, electric vehicle brand Xpeng, as well as Horizon, and light detection and ranging firm RoboSense Technology are all increasing their investments in the field.

Editor: Emmi Laine