Qiyuan Q1 R&D Lead Highlights Shift to Consumer-Grade Robotics and Open-Source Hardware
At the World Robot Conference 2026, Peng Wenzheng, the R&D lead of Qiyuan Q1, introduced the personal robot and announced plans to open-source its entire hardware design. He emphasized that the robotics industry is shifting its focus from basic manufacturing capability to entering the consumer market. This move reflects a broader trend in embodied AI where hardware configurations are converging, shifting the bottleneck to software intelligence and ecosystem content. Open-sourcing the hardware design allows users and developers to customize robots via 3D printing, potentially accelerating consumer adoption. The Qiyuan Q1 features a screwless exterior design and utilizes compliant force control to ensure safety, allowing its movements to be interrupted easily or guided with minimal force. Additionally, over 95% of the robot's outer shell is customizable, enabling users to modify its appearance using 3D printing.
## BACKGROUND
Embodied AI refers to the integration of artificial intelligence into physical systems, like robots, enabling them to perceive and interact with the physical world. Compliant force control is a robotic control technique designed to make human-robot interactions safer by allowing the robot to yield or adapt to external forces rather than rigidly maintaining a programmed path.