Leim and Trends Media Group team up to push art-toy AI into fashion

Leim Technology has formed a strategic partnership with Trends Media Group and unveiled an open ecosystem for its emotional AI companion bibo at the 2026 INCLUSION Conference on the Bund in Shanghai. The companies plan fashion, content and lifestyle collaborations as Leim tries to turn its robot into a broader consumer and cultural product.

Why it matters: - Leim Technology is trying to move bibo beyond a standalone robot and into fashion, art and lifestyle settings. - The partnership with Trends Media Group gives Leim access to fashion publishing, styling and storytelling experience. - The strategy could help consumer robotics feel more personal, collectible and culturally embedded.

What happened: - Leim announced a strategic partnership with Trends Media Group at the 2026 INCLUSION Conference on the Bund in Shanghai. - Leim introduced an open ecosystem for art-toy embodied AI centered on bibo, its emotional AI companion. - The announcement included a live performance and an exhibition built around miniature seasonal landscapes. - bibo will appear at the 2026 BAZAAR GALA on Sept. 25 as BAZAAR GALA BABY, with the role of “Happy Planet Navigator.” - Leim also announced an eight-figure yuan financing round led by Trends Media Group, with participation from Hongyi Asset Management. - The company said the post-money valuation is 160 million yuan. - Leim said the funding will support product development, content and sales channel expansion.

The details: - Planned projects include designer collaborations, clothing, accessories, limited-edition products and creative experiences built around AI characters. - Trends Media Group was founded in 1993 and has collaborated with Hearst and licensed international titles, including Harper’s BAZAAR, in China. - Leim will contribute miniature robotics, sensing and character interaction capabilities. - Trends Media Group will contribute content expertise and relationships across fashion and design. - On stage, fingerstyle guitarist Zhou Jing performed alongside more than a dozen bibo robots. - The robots responded with changes in gaze, head movement, sound and rhythmic motion. - Leim said the robots reacted through perception and interaction systems rather than a fixed dance routine. - Individual robots responded differently to the same music. - bibo uses visual, audio, touch and motion sensing to perceive its surroundings. - The robot responds through expressions, movement and sound. - Leim positions bibo as a product for companionship and personal expression. - The exhibition showed bibo in spring, summer, autumn and winter settings with different styling and behaviors. - Clothing, accessories and scenery shaped the characters’ presentation. - The exhibition also pointed to opportunities for artists and designers to create environments and visual identities around the devices. - Another installation, “You Through bibo’s Eyes,” let visitors create personalized AI-generated portraits. - Leim said that installation combined captured images with felt-art-inspired visuals and used perceived emotional cues to shape the composition. - The company said the experiences turned visitors into participants in the artwork. - Leim defines “art-toy embodied AI” as a mix of character design, physical sensing, robotic movement and ongoing AI interaction. - The company said bibo received recognition at CES 2026. - Leim said the ecosystem focuses on three areas: turning intellectual property into physical characters, expanding into exhibitions and hospitality-like settings, and supporting ongoing participation through accessories, content and user-created stories. - Leim said early users have brought bibo into offices, cafés, trips and social gatherings. - The company said users often customize bibo’s appearance and share photographs. - Company-reported figures showed active users averaged more than 120 minutes of daily companionship time and more than 60 multimodal interactions per day as of Sept. 1. - Users created more than 40,000 photos with bibo between July 1 and Sept. 1.

Between the lines: - Leim is using fashion partnerships and live art to make bibo feel like a cultural character, not just a consumer gadget. - The emphasis on participation, customization and user-generated content suggests a bet on community-driven engagement. - The financing from Trends Media Group signals that the media and fashion partner is also acting as a strategic backer.

What's next: - bibo’s Sept. 25 appearance at the 2026 BAZAAR GALA will be an early test of the fashion tie-up. - Leim plans to keep expanding content and experiences around the robot through creative collaborations. - The company is likely to use the new funding to broaden distribution and build more real-world use cases for bibo. - More partnerships may follow as Leim pushes the ART × TECH approach into additional venues and products.