Agibot Denies Departure of Chief Scientist Jianlan Luo, Citing Internal Role Adjustments
Chinese robotics startup Agibot has clarified that its Chief Scientist, Jianlan Luo, has not left the company but is undergoing internal role adjustments. However, Luo has been removed from the company's updated partner list, which recently expanded from seven to nine members. As a key figure in embodied AI and reinforcement learning, Luo's shift in status at a prominent humanoid robotics startup like Agibot could signal changes in the company's research leadership and strategic direction. Luo, a UC Berkeley PhD graduate and former Google DeepMind researcher, joined Agibot in April 2024 to lead its Embodied AI Research Center. He is widely recognized for developing SERL, a highly successful robotic reinforcement learning system.
## BACKGROUND
Agibot is a prominent Chinese startup specializing in humanoid robots and embodied AI, which integrates artificial intelligence into physical systems that interact with the real world. During his time at the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR) lab, Luo co-developed SERL, a software suite designed for sample-efficient robotic reinforcement learning in real-world tasks.