Rokid
| Rokid | |
|---|---|
| |
| Information | |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Augmented Reality |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founder | Misa Zhu Mingming |
| Headquarters | Hangzhou, China |
| Products | AR glasses, AI smart glasses, voice assistants |
| Website | global.rokid.com |
Rokid is a Chinese augmented reality and artificial intelligence company based in Hangzhou. It was founded in 2014 and is known for a line of consumer and enterprise augmented reality glasses, along with AI glasses that compete with Ray-Ban Meta. The legal entity behind the brand is Hangzhou Lingban Technology Co., Ltd.[1]
The company was started by Misa Zhu Mingming, a former Alibaba employee. Zhu earned a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, and ran an earlier mobile software startup, Mengma Technology, that Alibaba acquired in 2010; he then led an innovation lab at Alibaba before leaving to build Rokid.[2][1] Reporting on the company's planned Hong Kong listing names Eric Wong as a co-founder.[3]
History
Rokid started out in voice. Its first product, the Rokid Alien, was a home voice assistant robot that shipped in February 2016 at around US$788, a price the market rejected, so the company stopped mass production. It followed with the cheaper Rokid Pebble smart speaker in May 2017 (about US$256) and the portable Rokid ME.[4] The company built its own voice software stack, later open-sourcing the YodaOS operating system, and announced a custom voice-recognition chip.[5]
At CES 2018 Rokid showed its first pair of AR glasses, Rokid Glass, positioned as a consumer alternative to Google Glass.[6] Over time the AR side became the core of the business, and Rokid leaned toward enterprise and industrial customers before pushing back into the consumer market with display and AI glasses.[1] By 2024 the company described itself as a "product platform company" supplying the software and hardware stack for AR, including computer vision, large language models, and YodaOS.[7]
Rokid maintains a research presence in the United States in addition to its Hangzhou base, and has said it works with industrial clients in more than 100 countries.[6][7]
Funding and milestones
Rokid has raised money across several rounds. In January 2018 it closed a US$100 million Series B extension (which it called a "Series B+") led by Singapore's Temasek Holdings, with Credit Suisse, IDG Capital, and CDIB Capital participating.[6] In March 2022 it announced a US$160 million Series C, bringing total capital raised at that point to US$378 million; the company declined to name the Series C backers, describing them only as related ecosystem players.[8] A January 2024 round of roughly 500 million renminbi (about US$70 million) was led by the Hefei city government.[1] One report on the company's IPO plans states Rokid raised US$228 million at a US$1 billion valuation in 2023, and that it was preparing a Hong Kong listing in 2026.[3][9]
On the hardware side, Rokid Glasses became a notable crowdfunding result: the company says the project drew over US$3.6 million from more than 5,000 backers on Kickstarter.[7]
Products
Rokid splits its catalog into three rough groups: early voice assistants, tethered "display" glasses meant to act as a wearable screen for phones and game consoles, and standalone AR or AI glasses with their own processor.
The display glasses include the Rokid Air (2021), a phone-powered pair with a 1080p Micro OLED panel per eye and roughly a 43 degree field of view at about 83 grams.[10] The Rokid Max, unveiled in March 2023, uses a Sony 1920 x 1080 Micro OLED display, about a 50 degree field of view, 600 nits brightness, and weighs 75 grams, simulating a 215 inch screen; it started at US$439 for pre-orders.[11] The Rokid Max 2, released in late 2024, keeps the 50 degree field of view and 75 gram weight but adds dual 1080p Micro OLED panels, a 120 Hz refresh rate, and built-in diopter adjustment up to 600 degrees of myopia.[12][13]
To give the display glasses something to run on their own, Rokid sells the Rokid Station, a remote-shaped Android TV box with a 4-core ARM chip, 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage, and a 5,000 mAh battery.[14] The follow-up Station 2, paired with the Max 2 as the Rokid AR Lite bundle, moves to a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running YodaOS-Master, with a 5,000 mAh battery, dual USB-C ports, Wi-Fi 6, and a touchpad on top that doubles as a 3DoF pointer; the bundle launched on Kickstarter at US$499.[13]
Rokid's standalone glasses run from enterprise hardware to the latest AI eyewear. The Rokid Glass 2 (2020) is a split monocular optical waveguide design aimed at industrial use, with a 40 degree field of view, an on-board NPU for object recognition, and voice and touch controls tuned for noisy environments.[15] The Rokid Vision 2, shown in January 2021, is a binocular mixed reality pair with a 40 degree field of view that tethers to phones, PCs, consoles, and tablets over 4G or 5G, with 6DoF SLAM apps for tourism, museums, medical, and industrial work.[16]
The Rokid X-Craft is the company's industrial flagship, described as the world's first explosion-proof AR head-mounted device with a built-in 5G module. It uses dual diffractive waveguides with DLP light engines, over 80 percent light transmission, up to 1600 nits brightness, and a 40 degree field of view, and is rated IP66 with intrinsically safe explosion protection for hazardous zones. Its voice system claims a 98 percent recognition rate with a one second response in 90 dB industrial noise, and it carries ATEX and IECEx certification for use in oil and gas, power grids, mining, and manufacturing. X-Craft won a gold medal at the 48th Geneva International Invention Exhibition in 2023.[17]
Rokid Glasses is the company's bet on the mainstream AI glasses category. Unveiled at the Rokid Jungle 2024 event in Hangzhou on November 18, 2024, the glasses weigh 49 grams, use dual monochrome green Micro LED displays with a diffractive optical waveguide, a 12MP Sony camera, and a Qualcomm AR1 processor with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage; at launch they were tied to Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen model for tasks like real-time translation, object recognition, and transcription.[18] The glasses went to a global Kickstarter campaign in 2025 at US$499 for backers and US$599 at retail, with the shipping units adding ChatGPT support and Microsoft's translation engine alongside offline translation through a proprietary model.[19]
Rokid also makes a screenless audio pair, the Rokid AI Glasses Style, which it previewed for CES 2026 and then sold globally at US$299. It drops the display entirely in favor of a voice-first design with a 12MP Sony camera, up to 12 hours of battery, and support for assistants including ChatGPT and Gemini.[20]
Product timeline
| Product | Year | Type | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rokid Alien | 2016 | Voice assistant robot | First product; home AI assistant, discontinued after weak sales at about US$788 |
| Rokid Pebble | 2017 | Smart speaker | Lower-cost voice assistant (about US$256) |
| Rokid Glass | 2018 | AR glasses | First Rokid AR glasses, shown at CES 2018 |
| Rokid Glass 2 | 2020 | Enterprise AR glasses | Split monocular waveguide, 40 degree FOV, on-board NPU |
| Rokid Air | 2021 | Display AR glasses | Phone-powered, 1080p per eye, about 83 g |
| Rokid Vision 2 | 2021 | Mixed reality glasses | Binocular, 6DoF SLAM, 4G/5G tethering |
| Rokid Max | 2023 | Display AR glasses | 215 inch virtual screen, 50 degree FOV, 75 g |
| Rokid X-Craft | 2023 | Industrial MR glasses | Explosion-proof, 5G, IP66, ATEX/IECEx; Geneva gold medal |
| Rokid Station | 2023 | Compute module | Android TV box for AR glasses |
| Rokid Max 2 | 2024 | Display AR glasses | Dual 1080p Micro OLED, 120 Hz, diopter adjustment |
| Rokid AR Lite | 2024 | Bundle | Rokid Max 2 plus Station 2 compute unit |
| Rokid Glasses | 2024 | AI and AR glasses | 49 g, Micro LED waveguide, Qualcomm AR1, AI assistant |
| Rokid AI Glasses Style | 2026 | AI audio glasses | Screenless, voice-first, 12MP camera, US$299 |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Ruling the Metaverse". 2024-03-10. https://www.thewirechina.com/2024/03/10/ruling-the-metaverse-rokid-xreal-apple-augmented-reality-ar/.
- ↑ "Chinese AR start-up Rokid puts Alibaba AI in smart glasses to take on Meta". 2024-09-09. https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3287235/chinese-ar-start-rokid-puts-alibaba-ai-smart-glasses-take-meta.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "China AI Smart Glasses Company Rokid Plans for Hong Kong IPO". 2026-04-11. https://www.caproasia.com/2026/04/11/china-ai-smart-glasses-company-rokid-plans-for-hong-kong-ipo-raised-228-million-at-1-billion-valuation-in-2023-founded-in-2014-by-misa-zhu-mingming-eric-wong/.
- ↑ "Four-Year-Old, Temasek-Backed Rokid is Changing its Business Mode". 2018-11-22. https://equalocean.com/analysis/20181122183.
- ↑ "Chinese AI startup Rokid will mass produce their own custom AI chip for voice recognition". 2018-06-05. https://technode.com/2018/06/05/rokid/.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "AI voice assistant developer Rokid raises $100M Series B extension to build its US presence". 2018-01-18. https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/18/ai-voice-assistant-developer-rokid-raises-100m-series-b-extension-to-build-its-u-s-presence/.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "About Us". 2026. https://www.rokid.com/en-US/about.
- ↑ "China's AR company Rokid closes $160M Series C to expand globally". 2022-03-22. https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/22/chinas-ar-company-rokid-closes-110m-series-c-to-expand-globally/.
- ↑ "Chinese AI glasses maker Rokid planning Hong Kong IPO: sources". 2026-04-08. https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3349267/chinese-ai-glasses-maker-rokid-planning-hong-kong-ipo-sources.
- ↑ "Rokid Air: Full Specification". 2021. https://vr-compare.com/headset/rokidair.
- ↑ "Rokid unveils Rokid Max Augmented Reality glasses". 2023-03-22. https://www.auganix.org/ar-news-rokid-unveils-rokid-max-ar-glasses/.
- ↑ "Rokid Max 2". 2024. https://grokipedia.com/page/Rokid_Max_2.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Rokid AR Lite finally fixes two of the biggest problems with smart glasses". 2024. https://www.androidcentral.com/gaming/virtual-reality/rokid-ar-lite-rokid-max-2-announcement.
- ↑ "Rokid Station review: The first Android TV box for AR glasses is a no-frills affair". 2023. https://www.xda-developers.com/rokid-vision-review/.
- ↑ "Rokid Glass 2: Full Specification". 2020. https://vr-compare.com/headset/rokidglass2.
- ↑ "Rokid Announces Vision 2 Mobile MR Glasses, Apps, Software Updates". 2021-01-27. https://arpost.co/2021/01/27/rokid-vision-2-mr-glasses-apps-software/.
- ↑ "China's self-developed AR glasses X-Craft won the gold medal at the Geneva International Invention Exhibition". 2023-05-06. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chinas-self-developed-ar-glasses-x-craft-won-the-gold-medal-at-the-geneva-international-invention-exhibition-301817704.html.
- ↑ "Rokid Glasses Transform AR+AI into Daily Essentials, Unveiled at Rokid Jungle 2024". 2024-11-18. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rokid-glasses-transform-arai-into-daily-essentials-unveiled-at-rokid-jungle-2024-302310075.html.
- ↑ "Rokid Glasses are lightweight AR smart glasses with Micro LED displays and a $499 price tag". 2025-09-02. https://global.rokid.com/blogs/news/rokid-glasses-are-lightweight-ar-smart-glasses-with-micro-led-displays-and-a-499-price-tag.
- ↑ "Rokid AI Glasses Style go global as $299 screenless AI smart glasses". 2026. https://www.wareable.com/wearable-tech/rokid-ai-glasses-style-officially-available-launch-global.