Wearable AI
Nuna Originally PieX
An AI pendant exploring how multimodal sensing and on-device intelligence could support emotional awareness. Introduced as PieX at CES 2025, it later became Nuna.
CES coverage · NotebookcheckFounder · Researcher · Builder
Zhihe (Bob) Zhao赵之赫
Building personal AI that learns from life—and becomes more helpful over time.
I’m the founder and CEO of AxiomsTen, building Spiro. We explore how AI can help people preserve meaningful moments, share their lives, and carry forward the things they care about.
I earned my PhD at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2025, researching efficient AI systems. Previously, I co-founded ThingX and helped build Nuna, originally introduced as PieX, and Collie R1. Those experiences brought me from making AI work on devices to asking how it can work better for people.
01Current work
Spiro
Building at AxiomsTenHelping people keep and share what matters.
A conversation with a parent. A small moment we nearly forgot. A thought we keep returning to. Everyday life holds things we want to preserve or share, but finding the time or words is not always easy.
We began with everyday recording, illustrated story cards, and letters, helping people revisit their experiences and put them into words. We are now exploring how adult children and their parents can share more of their everyday lives.
These products also raise a longer-term question: can AI become more helpful as it gets to know a person? Our product development and research come together around that question.
Remember the history
Use what came before so people do not have to explain themselves all over again.
Learn from feedback
Let a person’s corrections change the next response, including what stays private.
Keep up with change
Recognize that relationships, priorities, and the help someone wants can change.
The goal is simple: the longer you use Spiro, the better its help should fit your life.
Follow my work and thinkingPreviously built · ThingX
Before Spiro, I co-founded ThingX and later served as CEO. With the team, I helped turn AI sensing research into products for everyday health and care.
Ambient sensing
Collie R1
A thermal-sensing fall-detection product for everyday care. Part of our work bringing AI beyond a screen and into the spaces where people live.
My reflection on the journey02Writing
Ideas, under examination.
Technical notes and essays on memory, personal AI, and building products people want to use.
Did Memory Actually Change the Decision?
A practical way to distinguish memory access, behavioral influence, and user value.
A Citation Is Not Enough: Who Does This Fact Belong To?
Source support, speaker identity, and autobiographical truth are different checks.
Don’t Make Me Teach My AI Twice
The value of memory appears in the next result, when an old correction saves new work.
03Selected research
The systems behind the intelligence.
My research background is in efficient AI systems: real-time inference, DNN compilers, and edge computing. These projects shaped how I think about making intelligence work under real constraints.
Miriam: Exploiting Elastic Kernels for Real-time Multi-DNN Inference on Edge GPU
Coordinating concurrent neural networks on resource-constrained edge GPUs.
Moses: Exploiting Cross-device Transferable Features for On-device Tensor Program Optimization
Reusing optimization knowledge across heterogeneous devices.
Aaron: Compile-time Kernel Adaptation for Multi-DNN Inference Acceleration on Edge GPU
EdgeML: An AutoML Framework for Real-Time Deep Learning on the Edge
Bringing automated model design and real-time execution together on edge devices.
More publications & academic service
- TensorBind: Unifying On-device Tensor Program Optimization through Foundation Model — SenSys 2023, poster.
- BlastNet: Exploiting Duo-Blocks for Cross-Processor Real-Time DNN Inference — SenSys 2022, co-author; Best Paper Finalist.
- BalanceFL: Addressing Class Imbalance in Long-Tail Federated Learning — IPSN 2022, co-author.
- Past service includes MobiCom 2024 and MobiSys 2023 artifact evaluation, the EuroSys 2024 Shadow PC, and reviewing for IEEE TMC and JSAC.
04Background
From systems to people.
My path has moved between research and entrepreneurship. Building products made the questions more concrete; research gave me the tools to examine them.
2025–present
Founder & CEO · AxiomsTen
Building Spiro: personal AI that learns from everyday life to help people over time.
Previously
Co-founder & former CEO · ThingX
Helped build Nuna / PieX and Collie R1 in the CUHK and Hong Kong Science Park startup ecosystem. CUHK reported HK$12 million in angel funding for the company in December 2024.
2021–2025
PhD research · CUHK AIoT Lab
AI systems and DNN compilers, advised by Prof. Guoliang Xing. Graduated in 2025.
2022
Research intern · Huawei
March–July 2022.
2015–2017
Early entrepreneurship · Youdu Smart Tech
Co-founded a smart-home startup; later interned in embedded software engineering at RT-Thread.
EDUCATION
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
2025PhD · AIoT Lab, Information Engineering
Duke University
2021MS · Computer Engineering
University of Liverpool / XJTLU
2019Bachelor’s degree · Computer Science and Technology
Academic CV archive — October 2023 (PDF). This historical CV predates my PhD graduation and AxiomsTen.
05Recognition
Selected recognition
Forbes China 30 Under 30
Announcement by CUHK’s Department of Information Engineering.
ACM SenSys · Best Poster Award
Aaron · Compile-time kernel adaptation for multi-DNN inference.
ACM SenSys · Best Paper Finalist
BlastNet · Co-authored work on real-time DNN inference.
Huawei Spark Award
06Selected coverage
The work, in public.
Profiles, product reporting, and milestones from different chapters of my work.
Founding AxiomsTen and building Spiro
A founder profile covering the company’s origins and its earlier exploration of wearable AI.
Building ThingX from Hong Kong
An official InvestHK feature quoting me as ThingX’s CEO on its R&D headquarters and expansion plans.
PieX’s debut at CES 2025
Product news on the pendant’s sensing and on-device AI concept, published under its original PieX name.
An AI pendant for emotional awareness
Medical technology trade coverage of the early PieX product announcement.
From PieX to Nuna
Later reporting on the product’s evolution into Nuna, published after my departure from ThingX.
Also documented by HKSTP: ThingX in Hong Kong’s CES 2025 delegation.
07Get in touch
Let’s compare notes.
I’d like to hear from researchers and builders working on personal AI, memory, intelligent systems, and thoughtful human–AI interaction.
zhaozhihe2333@gmail.com