Qiyuan Q1/T1 Humanoid Robots Open Pre-orders: 88cm Whole-Body Force-Controlled Robot Aimed at Ordinary Households

Forum topic · QianXun · 2026-08-23

Summary

On August 23, Qiyuan Robotics, a subsidiary of China's Senior Material (Shangwei New Materials), opened pre-orders for two consumer humanoid robots: the Q1 and T1, with first deliveries expected in September. The Q1 stands 88 cm tall, weighs 15 kg, and features whole-body force control, targeting embodied AI development, tech enthusiasts, and home companionship. The T1 stands 100 cm, weighs 16 kg, and can autonomously switch between a wheeled-biped form and a quadruped form for indoor mobility and outdoor traversal. Pricing is unannounced, but a 1,000 yuan deposit offsets 2,000 yuan of the final payment, with a 30-day 30%-off Care package. Financial disclosures reveal 210 million yuan in advance payments for consumer embodied-robot business and ~160 million yuan in R&D spending in H1 2026, plus offline experience stores in seven cities. Qiyuan has also signed with Lens Technology's Lens Intelligent Robotics for a 10,000-unit production line and Wolong Electric Drive for core joint components. The post contrasts this consumer-focused strategy with the industry's industrial-line emphasis at the 2026 World Robot Conference, arguing that September delivery feedback will test whether ordinary households will actually pay for humanoid robots.

On August 23, Qiyuan Robotics (启元机器人), a subsidiary of Senior Material (Shangwei New Materials), officially opened pre-orders for its two products — the Qiyuan Q1 and Qiyuan T1 — with first deliveries expected in September. This is the first time a consumer humanoid robot has run the full pre-order-to-delivery process as a mass-market consumer product. Pricing has not been announced, but the deposit terms already say a lot: a 1,000 yuan deposit offsets 2,000 yuan of the final payment, a Care service package at 30% off within 30 days, plus a first-edition collector's gift box.

The Products

Qiyuan Q1: 88 cm tall, 15 kg, a compact whole-body force-controlled humanoid positioned for embodied AI development, tech-toy enthusiasts, and home companionship — essentially a bet on the "desktop development platform" category.
Qiyuan T1: 100 cm standing, 16 kg, capable of autonomously switching between a wheeled-biped form and a quadruped form. It targets home companionship, outdoor accompaniment, and imaging/creation. The transformation design is its most notable feature: wheels solve indoor mobility efficiency, quadruped mode solves outdoor traversal — one morphing mechanism packing two scenarios into one machine.

The Numbers Behind It

Senior Material's H1 2026 financial report discloses:

210 million yuan in advance payments for its consumer embodied intelligence robot business
~160 million yuan in R&D investment across five areas: AI models, embodied intelligence algorithms, motion intelligence, interaction intelligence, and lightweight joints
An offline experience network covering seven cities: Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Wuhan

For a materials-focused company to receive 210 million yuan in pre-payments in half a year means C-end users are genuinely paying to "own a humanoid robot," not just window-shopping.

Supply Chain Taking Shape

Qiyuan signed with Lens Intelligent Robotics (under Lens Technology): phase one plans a 10,000-unit-scale robot production line covering precision parts machining, joint module production, and final assembly.
A strategic partnership with Wolong Electric Drive for core joint component production.

A 10,000-unit production line plus customized joints is the prerequisite for consumer-level pricing — without it, an 88 cm robot would remain a trade-show exhibit.

The Bigger Picture

At the 2026 World Robot Conference, the industry's main storyline was industrial production lines: UBTech recreated a customer's real production line 1:1 at its booth, with grasping cycles hitting 1,100 items/hour; MIIT data shows 400+ humanoid robot products in China in the first half of the year, over half the global total. While B-end competes on production-line efficiency, Qiyuan competes on the home scenario — two paths with completely different risk structures. B-end bets that the ROI math works; C-end bets on a market question no one has yet answered: how much would an ordinary household pay for a humanoid robot, and what would they actually do with it.

Going from "being experienced" to "being purchased" is the step that moves embodied intelligence into a true consumer cycle. Feedback from the first September deliveries will be more honest than any industry report.