Tsinghua PhD Founder Builds Robots for Hotel Work

Li Xiaofei is seen by investors as an ideal founder. He graduated from Tsinghua University, studied under a leading autonomous driving scholar, and focused his doctoral research on combining AI with autonomous driving.

In 2016, Li left academia to co-found an autonomous driving company. There he oversaw frontier technology R&D and drove the commercialization of several robot products, including cleaning and logistics robots. That experience gave him both technical depth and deployment know-how.

He later founded Shenpu Intelligent and serves as its founder and CEO. In an interview with 21CBR, Li discussed the company's push into hotel service robots. The move reflects a broader trend: robotics startups are seeking practical scenarios where autonomous systems can create immediate value.

By targeting hotels, Shenpu Intelligent aims to bring robots into daily operations, from guest services to back-of-house tasks. The company's approach combines AI and autonomous driving expertise with commercial deployment experience. If successful, it could signal new opportunities for service robotics in hospitality.