Qiyuan Robot

Robotics · Consumer Hardware · AI

Launch

Qiyuan Robot launches mass-produced home robots at ¥19,999

Executives say hardware sales will barely break even, with subscriptions, apps and IP content designed to carry the real profit margin.

• Qiyuan Robot began selling two personal robots, Q1 and T1, in Shanghai on September 20, with base versions priced at ¥19,999 and premium Explorer/Pro versions up to ¥29,999.
• Qiyuan is a consumer robotics brand under Shanghai-listed Sunway New Materials (688585), chaired by Peng Zhihui, co-founder and CTO of Zhiyuan Robotics.
• The 88cm Q1 folds into a backpack, tracks six tiers of memory about users, and supports 3D-printed shell customization, while the T1 switches between wheeled-legged and quadrupedal forms.
• Production borrows automotive manufacturing rhythms, assembling one robot every 2.5 minutes with fully traceable batch data for each unit.
• The robots use a self-developed 260-gram 'egg joint' just 47mm across with 85 N·m/kg peak torque density, which the company calls the industry's smallest mass-produced actuator.
• CEO Tian Hua says future revenue will come from content subscriptions, IP applications and maintenance services on top of hardware, backing this with roughly ¥500 million in 2026 R&D spending and ¥1 billion earmarked for ecosystem building over five years.
• Qiyuan plans to expand into international markets next year, targeting roughly 30% of total sales from overseas revenue.
• The sub-¥20,000 price tests whether humanoid robots can leap from factory pilots into genuine mass consumer adoption, a threshold few rivals have credibly crossed.