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Text | Chang Zeyu

Editor | Hai Ruojing

36Kr recently learned that Juqiao Industrial has completed a seed round of financing of nearly 10 million yuan. The investor is Guosen Xihai Fund, and Inspur Capital serves as the long-term exclusive financial advisor. This round of financing will mainly be used for digital factory construction and production line laying.

Juqiao Industry was established in November 2023, focusing on the research and development of flexible fiber sensor technology. By combining a number of innovative technologies such as fiber pressure sensors, fiber electrodes, and tension sensing fibers with relevant algorithms, it can achieve the perception, conduction, calculation, and control of ECG, pressure, tension and other signals.

In terms of technical principles, traditionally, most flexible sensors are thin-film pressure sensors, which use resistive, capacitive, piezoelectric and other sensing mechanisms to coat the sensing material on a flexible substrate through a sandwich structure to achieve sensing characteristics. However, due to limitations in substrate materials and processes, this type of sensor has obvious limitations in terms of foldability, elasticity, and breathability. In long-term use in large-area scenes, it also faces the problem of easy detachment and the need to regularly calibrate changes in the thickness of the sensing layer.

Zhang Jingqi, CEO of Juqiao Industrial, told 36Kr that compared with similar technologies, the essential difference of flexible fiber sensor technology is that the electrode coating, piezoresistive coating, and coating substrate are all fiberized. The form of the fabric improves its softness, foldability, breathability, comfort, and durability, with a minimum folding radius of less than 0.2 mm, and the application scenarios are also expanded and enriched.

As for conventional sensing performance, the flexible sensor has passed multiple automotive-grade Z-shaped folding, rubbing, and three-megapascal high-intensity impact durability tests, ensuring its reliability and making major breakthroughs in sensor range.

"The upper limit of the range of similar piezoresistive and capacitive pressure sensors on the market is basically around 300-400 kilopascals, but the range of fabric sensors can reach about 10 times this value," Zhang Jingqi explained. The principle lies mainly in the fiber configuration of the sensor. "The multi-layer structure inside the fiber produces more conductive paths when under pressure, and the electrode fiber and the piezoresistive fiber structure produce more bites. As a result, the resistance between the electrode fibers is reduced and the sensing range is increased."

In addition to technology research and development, it is more important to implement flexible sensors in accordance with industrial standards and achieve mass production. In this regard, relying on local Chinese textile factories, after thousands of proofing experiments, Juqiao Industry has optimized the spinnerets, equipment links, and temperature and humidity control of textile machines, achieving improvements in production efficiency and consistency, with a production yield of 95%.

Based on the core application scenarios, Juqiao Industrial has currently laid out three product lines: the care series targeting elderly care and medical care, the industrial automobile series used in car companies, and the precision series focusing on robot skin and scientific research.

The elderly care medical bedsore pad is the first product in the "Care Series" to achieve large-scale production and delivery. By obtaining the real-time pressure distribution map of the entire person in bed, recording the duration of pressure in different parts of the human body, and linking it with the nursing AI nursing assistant developed by Juqiao, the product can monitor and warn of bedsore risks in real time, and warn of risks such as stroke based on breathing, shaking and other data, and integrate relevant information into the background management system. Family members, nurses, caregivers, deans and other relevant personnel can understand the status of the elderly and provide care through different ports of the APP.

Bedsore pad developed by Juqiao Industry; Image source: Juqiao Industry

It is reported that during the development of the bedsore pad, Juqiao Industry reached a cooperation with Beijing 301 Hospital on data, labeling and model training, and jointly developed and trained a dedicated AI model focusing on bedsore care, in order to provide a more professional basis for bedsore monitoring and early warning services.

At present, many nursing homes and service platforms have reached cooperation with Juqiao Industry. The application of this type of smart bedsore pad "can optimize the living conditions of the elderly while reducing the cost of care." Based on the previous research, Zhang Jingqi introduced to 36Kr, "If an elderly person has bedsores, the care time and cost will triple. Reducing the risk of bedsores for the elderly through refined monitoring and management is actually saving money."

Juqiao Industrial told 36Kr that in terms of product planning in other elderly care fields, it will work with the China Disabled Persons’ Federation to jointly develop a series of products such as anti-bedsore wheelchairs and rehabilitation foot pads. In other fields, product cooperation and mass production are also underway.

Taking the automotive field as an example, Juqiao has negotiated cooperation with nearly 10 automakers on seat sensors, and some orders have been advanced to mass production. "Car seats equipped with flexible fiber sensors can be adjusted more freely," Zhang Jingqi explained when talking about the performance advantages of the product in car seats. "When a person sits on it, the seat knows the pressure distribution of your whole body, and the airbags at the back will also adjust adaptively accordingly to adjust to a comfortable sitting position."

In addition, Juqiao Industry is also advancing its layout in large-area full-body electronic skin for robots. The application of this sensor enables robots to acquire, collect, and apply more sensory information data, thereby acquiring touch, force, and temperature perception similar to human skin, and playing a role in optimizing the human-machine interaction experience.

In the first half of 2024, Juqiao Industrial has completed the implementation of semi-automatic production lines. The factory currently has an annual production capacity of more than 100,000 pieces and supports customization. Using the company's newly built production equipment, the time for new product proofing can be compressed to less than one day. Zhang Jingqi said that with the increase in subsequent orders, the company will further add new production lines and improve the degree of automation of production lines to increase production capacity, and expand agent distribution models in addition to direct sales, gradually transitioning from the domestic market to the overseas market.

Currently, the company is preparing for angel round financing, planning to raise 15 million to 20 million yuan. The funds raised will be mainly used to expand production capacity, technology research and development, team expansion and other aspects.