Westlake University established the Westlake World Model Center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Oct 31 to advance research into physical intelligence.

The interdisciplinary center will focus on AI systems that can understand and interact with the physical world. World models aim to predict the next state of the real world and help AI understand time, space, cause and effect, and basic physical principles.

Yu Kaicheng will serve as the center's director, with academician Jin Yaochu as chief scientist. The center builds on research at the university's Autonomous Intelligence Lab (AutoLab), which began studying world models three years ago.

Drawing on related technology, physical AI foundation model company Awomo was established in early 2026. Its foundation model, also named Awomo, ranked first in four international robotics benchmarks, and the startup has raised more than 100 million yuan ($15.04 million) in seed and angel funding.