Alex Gu

Alex Gu (顾捷, pinyin: Gù Jié) is a Chinese mechanical engineer, founder and chief executive of Fourier Intelligence (傅利叶智能, Fuliye Zhineng), the Shanghai-based rehabilitation-and-humanoid-robotics company he established in July 2015. He led Fourier from a medical-rehabilitation exoskeleton specialist into the GR series of bipedal humanoid robots beginning in 2023, and into one of the more-distinctive strategic positions in the Chinese humanoid cluster through a partnership with the Saudi sovereign-investment ecosystem. As of May 2026, Gu continues to serve as founder and chief executive officer of Fourier, with the GR-3 humanoid family in market and the company positioned as the leading Chinese exoskeleton-and-humanoid-rehabilitation provider.

At a glance

• Education: Bachelor's degree in mechanics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2003).
• Current role: Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fourier Intelligence since July 2015.
• Notable prior affiliations: Sales-and-systems-integration engineer at National Instruments (post-2003); founder of Jinghe Robot (2012), maker of the Flexbot rehabilitation device, acquired by QJ Rehab in 2015.
• Key contributions: Founded Fourier in 2015 with an initial focus on rehabilitation exoskeletons; led the Fourier X1 (March 2017), X2, M2, and ArmMotus rehabilitation devices; led the GR-1 humanoid unveil at the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference; pivoted to the GR-2 (September 2024) and GR-3 humanoid family.
• Recognition: Identified as one of seven technology executives who presented innovations to Xi Jinping during his Shanghai visit; speaker at the Singapore Healthcare and Biomedical Congress 2025; long-running Shanghai Jiao Tong University robotics-team alumnus.
• Affiliation network: Member of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University first robotics team; participant in the 2002 RoboCup Asia-Pacific.

Origins

Gu enrolled at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in the late 1990s and was a foundational member of the university's first robotics team. He participated in the 2002 RoboCup Asia-Pacific in this capacity, and the robotics-team experience routed him toward a career in industrial automation and rehabilitation hardware. He graduated in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in mechanics.

After graduation, Gu joined National Instruments, the Austin-headquartered measurement-and-instrumentation company, in a sales-and-systems-integration role. He worked on data collection, signal processing, instrument testing, and systems integration during this tenure, and rose to a senior management-board position in the China region. The National Instruments period gave him exposure to the measurement-and-control engineering stack that became foundational for the exoskeleton-and-rehabilitation business he later founded.

He entered entrepreneurship in 2008, with initial work on rehabilitation robotics. In 2012 he founded Jinghe Robot, which developed the Flexbot rehabilitation device for stroke and spinal-cord-injury patients. Jinghe was acquired by QJ Rehab in 2015. The Jinghe-and-Flexbot experience produced both the technical foundation and the medical-device-distribution-channel relationships that Gu took into Fourier.

Fourier Intelligence was founded in July 2015 in Shanghai's Zhangjiang Town, with Zen Koh as a named co-founder. The company name references the French mathematician Joseph Fourier, and the initial product focus was physical rehabilitation devices: lower-limb exoskeletons for stroke and spinal-cord-injury rehabilitation and upper-limb robotic-arm platforms for the same patient populations.

Career

Fourier's medical-rehabilitation product line began with the Fourier X1 walking-assistance exoskeleton in March 2017. The X2 lower-limb exoskeleton followed, with the M2 and ArmMotus upper-limb rehabilitation devices completing the pre-humanoid product line. The exoskeleton-and-rehabilitation platforms were sold through medical-device distribution channels into rehabilitation hospitals in China, Australia, and parts of Europe. By the mid-2020s, Fourier had supplied robotic services to more than 2,000 organisations and hospitals across more than 65 countries and regions.

The 2019 internal decision to enter the humanoid market produced the GR-1 humanoid robot. Development of the bipedal-walking capability progressed through 2019 to 2022, with the GR-1 achieving bipedal locomotion in 2022. The public unveiling was at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in July 2023, with the platform positioned as a research-and-development tier humanoid. GR-1 specifications: 1.65 metres tall, approximately 55 kilograms in weight, with 40 degrees of freedom. The GR-2 in September 2024 followed at 1.75 metres tall, 63 kilograms, with 53 degrees of freedom and a detachable-battery system. The GR-3 family, including specialised variants such as the Kitty head and Astronaut versions, extended the line into 2025 and 2026.

The Saudi strategic relationship has been a distinctive element of Fourier's 2023 to 2026 narrative. Saudi Aramco participated in named investment rounds, and Fourier announced strategic partnerships with the Saudi NEOM Special Zone for deployment-and-demonstration projects in Saudi Arabia. The relationship has positioned Fourier as the Chinese humanoid-robotics company with the deepest formal connection to Middle Eastern sovereign capital, distinguishing it within the cluster's competitive frame.

Gu was one of seven technology executives who presented innovations to Xi Jinping during a Shanghai visit, and has spoken at industry forums including the 2025 Singapore Healthcare and Biomedical Congress. Industry coverage in 2025 and 2026 has consistently identified him as the public-facing founder of Fourier, with his commentary on humanoid-robotics-and-rehabilitation strategy frequently quoted in Chinese and international technology media. Gu has publicly framed the GR series as "not just a tool but a companion that can accompany, understand, and convey emotions."

Affiliations

• Shanghai Jiao Tong University: Bachelor's student in mechanics, completing degree in 2003; first robotics team member.
• National Instruments: Sales-and-systems-integration engineer, post-2003 (through approximately 2008).
• Jinghe Robot: Founder, 2012; company acquired by QJ Rehab in 2015.
• Fourier Intelligence: Founder and Chief Executive Officer, July 2015 to present.

Notable contributions

• Founding Fourier Intelligence (July 2015). Established the company in Shanghai's Zhangjiang Town with a focus on rehabilitation robotics; pivoted into humanoid robotics in 2023.
• Fourier X1 exoskeleton (March 2017). Led the development of the first lower-limb exoskeleton in the Chinese mainland market, distributed through medical-device channels into rehabilitation hospitals.
• GR-1 humanoid robot (July 2023 unveiling). Led the development and World Artificial Intelligence Conference unveiling of Fourier's first bipedal humanoid; 1.65 metres tall, 55 kilograms, 40 degrees of freedom.
• GR-2 humanoid robot (September 2024). Led the second-generation humanoid platform with 53 degrees of freedom and a detachable-battery system.
• GR-3 humanoid family (2025 to 2026). Led the third-generation product line including specialised Kitty head and Astronaut variants targeting healthcare-and-rehabilitation-companion use cases.
• Saudi strategic partnership. Built the Fourier-Saudi-Public-Investment-Fund/Aramco/NEOM strategic relationship, the most-substantial named connection between any Chinese humanoid-robotics company and Middle Eastern sovereign capital as of 2026.

Open questions

• GR-3 production volume. The GR-1 and GR-2 platforms established the product-line cadence. Whether GR-3 production scales into thousands of units annually, or stays at the development-and-pilot scale, will define Fourier's competitive standing against Unitree and the rest of the Chinese cluster.
• Saudi NEOM deployment progress. The strategic partnership with NEOM has not produced detailed public deployment-volume or revenue disclosures. Visible deployment in Gulf-region projects in 2026 and 2027 would meaningfully validate the strategic positioning that has differentiated Fourier from the rest of the Chinese humanoid cluster.
• Medical-rehabilitation-versus-humanoid balance. The pre-2023 medical-rehabilitation business has been Fourier's revenue base. Whether Gu maintains the dual-product-line structure or progressively concentrates investment in the humanoid line will define the company's long-term strategic centre of gravity.
• AI-stack partnerships. Fourier has emphasised mechanical-and-actuator engineering more than AI-foundation-model integration in public messaging. Announced partnerships with Chinese frontier-model labs (DeepSeek, Alibaba Qwen) or with robotics-foundation-model providers (Physical Intelligence, Skild AI) would be informative for the competitive position against Agibot.

Sources

• Fourier on Wikipedia. Corporate history including founding date, product timeline, and investors.
• Alex Gu (Gu Jie) on CompassList. Biographical entry covering the Shanghai Jiao Tong University education, the National Instruments career, the Jinghe Robot venture, and the founding of Fourier.
• Fourier Aims to Introduce Humanoid Robots into Health and Rehabilitation Care Scenario on Its 10th Anniversary. 36Kr coverage of Fourier's tenth-anniversary positioning.
• World's first mass-produced humanoid robot? China start-up Fourier Intelligence eyes two-legged robots with AI brains. South China Morning Post coverage of the GR-1 strategy.
• Interview with Fourier Intelligence at WearRAcon17. Exoskeleton Report interview from the pre-humanoid product-line period.
• Mr Alex Gu at SHBC 2025. Singapore Healthcare and Biomedical Congress 2025 speaker profile.
• Companion profile: Fourier Intelligence for the corporate context, product line, and competitive positioning, including the Saudi strategic relationship details.