What Soft Touch does

Soft Touch (苏州柔触机器人科技有限公司, branded ROCHU) is a privately-held Chinese manufacturer of flexible robotic end-effectors founded in 2017 and headquartered in Zhangjiagang, Suzhou. The company designs, produces, and integrates bionic soft grippers that use underactuated finger mechanics, self-developed bionic organic silicone and nano-mark-free composite materials, and closed-loop pneumatic drive control to conform to fragile, curved, or irregularly-shaped workpieces without surface damage. Its product portfolio spans standardized soft-finger and soft-claw series, modular active drivers (ACU2-B, LCU-S), single- and multi-finger configurations for specific industries, and an optical-fiber soft-bone probe for real-time drop and process sensing.

Soft Touch serves enterprise manufacturers in 3C electronics, automotive parts, food and fresh-produce processing, medical devices, precision optics, and luxury watchmaking, with documented deployments including smartphone lens module assembly (99.7% yield, damage rates below 0.5%), automotive O-ring assembly, watch-case handling, and strawberry/e-commerce sortation integrated with AI vision. The company sells through direct enterprise field sales with 'dual-engine' service centers in Suzhou and Shenzhen and regional offices in Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Ningbo (with Chengdu expansion planned by mid-2026), alongside a transactional channel through its own website and a Tmall flagship store. Revenue is generated through hardware sales of grippers and drivers, modular spare parts and consumables, and customized turnkey solutions including on-site testing, design, and after-sales support.

The business model is anchored on a regulatory and standards moat unique for a sub-50-employee firm: Soft Touch is the leading drafter of China's first 'Soft Robot Technical Requirements' group standard and holds CE, RoHS, FDA, EU 1935/2004/EC, ISO9001, ISO17025, CNAS, ISO 13485, GB/T 16886.5-2017, and ISO 14644-1 certifications, prequalifying the product for food-contact, medical, semiconductor, and EU export customers. Operationally, the company shipped 200,000+ units in 2025 from a 3,000 sqm standardized factory and targets 400,000 units of capacity in 2026; capital partners to date include Ming Shi Capital, Shui Mu Capital, Gaolue Capital, and Plum Ventures. No revenue figures have been publicly disclosed.

Name

Soft Touch

Legal name

苏州柔触机器人有限公司

Website

https://rochu.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Soft Touch (柔触机器人/ROCHU) is a Chinese manufacturer of bionic flexible robotic grippers serving enterprise manufacturers in 3C electronics, automotive, food, medical, optical, and luxury-watchmaking with adaptive, non-damaging end-effectors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Flexible Robotic Grippers / Industrial Automation Components

NAICS

Rubber Product Manufacturing for Mechanical Use (326291), Rubber Product Manufacturing (3262)

akta.pro primary industry

Wearable Computers (Industrial Smart Glasses/Wrist/Arm-Mount) (HDACALAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Orthotics & Bracing (AFO/KAFO, Spinal, Soft Goods Supports) (HLAHAMAC)

Keywords

• Flexible robotic grippers
• Soft robotic end-effectors
• Bionic gripper technology
• Industrial automation grippers
• Soft robotics solutions

Headquarters

HQ city

Hefei

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Flexible Gripper Hardware Sales: Sale of proprietary flexible gripper products including soft finger series, soft claw series, and drivers (ACU2-B active drivers, LCU-S light drive modules). Revenue generated from product sales through direct channels and e-commerce platform.
2. Customized Solution Services: Turnkey customized柔性抓取 solutions including on-site testing, solution design, installation and debugging, and after-sales technical support services for enterprise clients.
3. Module and Spare Parts: Replacement finger modules, drivers, and spare parts for modular product system, providing ongoing revenue from existing customer base.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Soft Touch (ROCHU/柔触机器人) designs, manufactures, and sells bionic flexible (soft) robotic grippers and end-effectors used as automated gripping tools in industrial production lines. The company offers a modular product matrix of soft fingers, soft claws, and application-specific grippers built on proprietary underactuated structures and self-developed organic silicone/nano-mark-free composite materials, paired with drive modules and optical fiber sensing technology. Products are deployed for handling fragile, precise, or irregular workpieces across 3C electronics, automotive, food processing, medical device, and precision optics manufacturing.

Product overview

苏州柔触机器人科技有限公司 (ROCHU/SOFT TOUCH) offers a comprehensive flexible robotics end-effector product ecosystem centered on soft robotic grippers. The core product line includes three main series: the 柔指系列 (Rou Zhi Series) of bionic flexible fingers, the 柔爪系列 (Rou Zhua Series) of flexible claws in universal, miniature, and heavy-duty configurations, and specialized industry-specific grippers (automotive, food, optical, etc.). Supporting these are modular components including ACU2-B and LCU-S drive units, and the 光学纤维柔骨探针 (Optical Fiber Flexible Bone Probe) for tactile sensing. The product architecture uses modular, plug-and-play design enabling rapid configuration for different applications while maintaining compatibility with major robotic arm brands including UR, ABB, and FANUC.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Rou Zhi Series Flexible Fingers (柔指系列)
• Rou Zhua Series Flexible Claws (柔爪系列)
• RGF Series Multi-Finger Flexible Gripper
• SE-FP Series Single-Finger Flexible Gripper
• Flexible Inner Support Gripper
• Three-Finger Anti-Static Lens Gripper
• Automotive Lamp Dedicated Flexible Gripper
• Micro Three-Finger Silicone Flexible Gripper
• SE Series Food-Grade Flexible Gripper
• High-Temperature Resistant Flexible Gripper
• Customized Low-Temperature Adaptive Flexible Gripper
• Customized Gripper Solution Packages

Named customers10 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

AI capability4 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Tmall (天猫)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorE-commerce platform partnership for online sales of Soft Touch products through official Tmall flagship store

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Soft Robotics Inc. US-based soft robotics company specializing in food-grade compliant soft grippers for picking and packing in food processing and logistics — highly comparable to Soft Touch in both core technology (compliant elastomeric grippers) and food/pharma target verticals.
• OnRobot: Denmark-based end-effector manufacturer offering a broad gripper portfolio (electric, pneumatic, soft) targeted at collaborative and industrial robot applications — directly comparable product category, customer base, and cobot-channel GTM motion.
• Piab: Sweden-based vacuum and mechanical gripper manufacturer serving packaging, food, and logistics automation — comparable product form factor and target verticals, with overlapping soft/compliant gripping technologies.
• Robotiq: Canada-based end-effector manufacturer specializing in grippers and force-torque sensors for collaborative robot applications; longstanding Universal Robots ecosystem partner — directly comparable product line and cobot-channel GTM.
• Weiss Robotics: Germany-based specialist in servo-electric and intelligent gripping technology for industrial automation — comparable in niche focus on high-precision adaptive grippers serving similar precision-manufacturing customers as Soft Touch.
• SRT (Beijing Soft Robot Technology): China-based soft robotics company producing flexible grippers and bionic end-effectors for industrial automation and food/3C applications — directly comparable in technology platform, target verticals, and customer geography as a domestic Chinese competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Festo: Global automation incumbent with a dedicated soft robotics product line (BionicSoftHand, pneumatic grippers) and broad industrial automation portfolio — overlaps with Soft Touch on adaptive gripping technology but serves customers through a much wider component and system offering.
• Schunk: Germany-based gripping technology specialist with an extensive mechanical and pneumatic gripper product range serving industrial automation customers globally — broader portfolio than Soft Touch but directly competitive in robotic end-effector applications.

Others

• Universal Robots: Denmark-based collaborative robot manufacturer and Soft Touch's named integration partner via standardized plug-and-play drivers — adjacent ecosystem participant rather than direct competitor, but its cobot ecosystem access drives demand for Soft Touch's compatible grippers.

Emerging players

• RightHand Robotics: US-based developer of adaptive piece-picking robotic solutions combining compliant grippers with vision and AI for warehouse/e-commerce order fulfillment — comparable in flexible-gripping value proposition for e-commerce/3PL sorting, an overlapping use case to Soft Touch's fresh produce work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance11 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Soft Touch