Gasgoo Munich- Acorn Robot, an embodied manipulation startup, has closed an angel round led by CM Venture Capital and NIO Capital, with participation from the Shuimu Tsinghua Alumni Seed Fund, according to Gasgoo Embodied Intelligence. Coming just four months after a nearly 100 million yuan seed round in March, the company has now raised several hundred million yuan in total. The new capital will fuel R&D for robots designed for flexible industrial production, alongside brand building and market expansion.Image Source: Acorn RobotOn the same day, Acorn Robot officially unveiled the "Natus AGE-0 Embodied Instinct Model." Described as the world's first general-purpose manipulation foundation model centered on tactile perception, it replicates human manipulation mechanics while discarding the industry's standard data pre-training paradigm. Unlike conventional models, it does not rely on massive labeled datasets or specific robot hardware, nor is it limited to fixed materials or scenarios. Instead, leveraging the underlying principles of tactile perception and contact mechanics, the system grants robots an innate manipulation instinct—enabling zero-shot generalization across different bodies, materials, and operating conditions.Founded in late 2024, Acorn Robot's core team hails from Tsinghua University and Harvard University, bridging mechanical engineering, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. Founder Jiang Yao, an associate researcher at Tsinghua's Department of Mechanical Engineering, first proposed the "instinct-driven" technical roadmap back in 2017. The startup positions itself as the world's first general-purpose embodied intelligence firm to adopt "instinct-driven" technology as its core paradigm.The industry's dominant Vision-Language-Action (VLA) approach relies heavily on massive demonstration data and computing power, trapping players in a paradox: immature models cannot access real-world operating data, yet without that data, models cannot iterate. Acorn Robot has chosen a different path—one that decouples task planning from execution. By relying on real-time tactile feedback to drive actions, the system eliminates the need for training data and annotation.On the commercial front, Acorn Robot is targeting flexible industrial production. It has already completed a proof-of-concept (POC) at a leading global cosmetics ODM, moving from signing to verification—and generating revenue—in just two months. The company is currently refining a standardized dual-arm flexible production unit and exploring a "Manufacturing-as-a-Service" model tailored for fast-moving consumer goods, daily chemicals, and food sectors, where production involves multiple SKUs, small batches, and rapid iteration.About "Seeds Discovery":Gasgoo's "Seeds Discovery" column aims to build a service platform connecting startups, ecosystem partners, investors, and local governments to deeply empower the automotive supply chain. Since its inception, the column has sought to identify exceptional companies, technologies, and business models that inspire and lead the industry amid the wave of intelligent transformation, driving the growth of innovative forces. According to Gasgoo, nearly every startup featured in "Seeds Discovery" has successfully connected with resources across the industrial ecosystem.