MileBot Robotics Files IPO Prospectus: Empowering Exoskeleton Rehabilitation with AI and IoT to Expand Access to Grassroots Rehabilitation

Imagine holding a pair of very long and heavy chopsticks to pick up peanuts; not only would you fail to grasp them, but it would also require considerable effort. Traditional rigid actuators are akin to such chopsticks. In contrast, flexible actuators resemble dexterous fingers, capable of picking up peanuts directly. Chen Gong, Founder and CEO of Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “MileBot Robotics”), used this analogy to explain the core technology of its rehabilitation robots—flexible actuators.

MileBot Robotics’ flagship product, the BEAR-H1 exoskeleton rehabilitation robot, utilizes compliant actuators for power output. It features six powered joints (bilateral hip, knee, and ankle) along with a hip rotation assistance joint, enabling natural gait patterns.

It is understood that the company was founded in September 2016 by a team of overseas-returnee PhDs and seasoned robotics industry professionals. After two and a half years of development, its R&D team has expanded from the initial three members (co-founders Chen Gong, Hu Feng, and Ye Jing) to over 50 employees. The company has filed for and been granted a total of 73 patents, and has been recognized for two consecutive years as one of Zero2IPO’s Top 50 Most Investable Companies, as well as a National High-Tech Enterprise. In 2018, founder Chen Gong was also named to the Forbes Under 30 list of entrepreneurial elites.

How Has MileBot Robotics Achieved Rapid Growth? What Are Its Core Competencies? During the Early Stage of China’s Rehabilitation Industry Development, How Did the Company Facilitate the Penetration of Rehabilitation Services into Grassroots Settings? To Address These Questions, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) Conducted an Exclusive Interview with Chen Gong, Founder of MileBot Robotics, to Hear His Insights.

According to the VCBeat article “Billions in Rehabilitation Market Await Activation, Hundreds of Thousands of Talent Gap Expect ‘Iron Man’: When Will Exoskeleton Robots Become a Reality?”, exoskeleton robots are primarily designed for patients with limb dysfunction resulting from stroke, trauma, or postoperative nerve injury, helping individuals with paraplegia or hemiplegia regain upper-limb function or lower-limb mobility.

“Assistance” is not equivalent to “substitution.” Traditional rehabilitation robots often substitute for human movement, which has been a frequent criticism in the field of rehabilitation robotics. Chen Gong told VCBeat that whether a device “substitutes” or “assists” is determined by “force control.” Rehabilitation training requires patients to exert their own effort and actively drive their muscles, much like a physical therapist assisting a patient during training.

Chen Gong told VCBeat that traditional industrial robotic arms (with rigid actuators) pursue extremely high positional accuracy, but their force control performance is relatively poor. In contrast, to ensure precise force control, MileBot’s exoskeleton rehabilitation robot employs a compliant actuator at each joint (the lower-limb robot has six joints in total, including the bilateral hip, knee, and ankle joints), enabling the output of varying forces at each joint to facilitate active patient training.

“Without assistance, patients walk very poorly. With a small amount of assistance, their gait improves slightly. The level of assistance is adjustable, and our robot embodies this concept of assistive support,” Chen Gong told VCBeat. MileBot Robotics has developed an algorithm whereby the robot initially provides minimal assistance to encourage active patient walking while simultaneously collecting gait trajectory data. It then compares the patient’s actual posture with a normal reference template to determine the degree of abnormality. Based on this assessment, the robot autonomously determines the appropriate level of assistance to provide.

In addition to gauging force magnitude, MileBot’s rehabilitation robots can predict patients’ movement intentions—such as whether they intend to start or stop walking, walk faster or slower, or traverse flat ground versus stairs—by integrating sensor data with kinematic models.

The clarion call for 5G commercialization has sounded. At this pivotal juncture in the era, 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) are converging, destined to advance hand in hand. Leveraging the momentum of 5G, Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co., Ltd. has integrated AI and IoT into its intelligent rehabilitation system.

Artificial intelligence can first enhance the intelligence of robots, making them “smarter.” It improves robots’ sensitivity in detecting human intent and provides more comprehensive solutions. Second, MileBot aims to leverage AI to develop a system for assessing human movement and medical conditions. Currently, patient conditions are evaluated by physicians using clinical scales. MileBot seeks to establish mapping relationships between these clinical assessments and data from the robot’s quantitative sensors, thereby creating an evaluation system to assess patients’ physical conditions.

In terms of the evaluation system, Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co.,Ltd. collects data from its robots during patient treatment, while also gathering clinical assessments provided by physicians. By comparing these two sets of data to identify their intrinsic correlations, the system further generates a comprehensive evaluation for each patient.

Once the evaluation system is established, the application scenarios for MileBot’s robots can be further expanded into grassroots settings. First, in regions with underdeveloped rehabilitation services and a shortage of medical professionals, MileBot’s rehabilitation robots can provide diagnostic outcomes, thereby alleviating physicians’ diagnostic workload. Second, within the evaluation framework, the robots precisely record patients’ training progress, presenting results that offer intuitive insights to both patients and their families. Finally, given the varying levels of experience and expertise among clinicians in China, which often lead to inconsistent assessment results, MileBot’s robotic evaluation system standardizes assessments to minimize bias.

Robots’ autonomous assessment capabilities can help gradually shift patient rehabilitation scenarios from tertiary hospitals to communities and homes. However, specific downstream applications still require monitoring by physicians and family members. Therefore, the Internet of Things (IoT) plays a particularly crucial role in this process.

Patients undergo rehabilitation training using robotic systems that leverage sensor data to monitor their condition in real time and deliver tailored therapeutic exercises. Through an Internet of Things (IoT) platform, physicians, patients, and family members can access real-time updates on the patient’s physical status and training progress, enabling remote diagnosis, treatment, and guidance. This approach extends the duration of rehabilitation therapy, freeing it from constraints related to hospital space or bed availability, while also creating new revenue streams for healthcare institutions. For patients, rehabilitation becomes more convenient, and the increased training duration contributes to improved recovery outcomes.

It is understood that MileBot currently has five products. In addition to its core product, the lower-limb rehabilitation exoskeleton robot BEAR-H1, the lineup includes the assistive exoskeleton robot PB-1, the TMS navigation robot, the hand rehabilitation exoskeleton robot, and the treadmill robot Moonwalker.

In addition, with compliant actuators as its core technology, Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co., Ltd. has also explored areas beyond healthcare. Since the second half of last year, MileBot has developed a lumbar support device for logistics workers. Reportedly, this product is already available on the market. Moving forward, MileBot will continue to explore business opportunities in the industrial, service, and caregiving sectors.

Regarding future plans, MileBot Robotics will first deepen its focus on rehabilitation robots itself, continuing R&D efforts and accelerating the registration and filing process with the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). Chen Gong predicts that its lower-limb rehabilitation exoskeleton robot, BEAR-H1, will obtain the Class II medical device certificate by the end of this year. Secondly, MileBot Robotics will continue to explore intelligent rehabilitation systems.

According to the VCBeat database, Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co., Ltd. completed its angel round of financing in April 2017, led by LCIG, and its Pre-A round in May 2018, led by Fenxiang Investment. It is reported that MileBot Robotics is currently raising its Series A round.