Qiyuan built its second 5,000 robots in 14 days, faster than its stated capacity

Qiyuan Robotics, the personal-robot brand of Shanghai-listed Swancor Advanced Materials, said its 10,000th robot came off the line on Nov. 8. The 5,000th rolled out on Oct. 25, so the second 5,000 took 14 days. Qiyuan began selling its robots on Sept. 20.

Averaged over those two weeks, Qiyuan built about 357 robots a day. That is more than either capacity figure the company has given: "more than 200" a day, as co-president Gao Quanzhong put it on Oct. 25, and 240 a day, the level the Shanghai Observer reported on Nov. 8 that daily capacity is climbing to. Two weeks ago the factory was Qiyuan's limit. It no longer is, and the number that would show whether 10,000 is a turning point is sales. Qiyuan published usage figures instead.

A consumer-electronics maker now shares the credit

The partner Qiyuan put forward this time was Lens Technology. Jiang Nan, Lens's board secretary, vice president and China president, said the company brought more than 30 years of precision device-hardware manufacturing into robots, contributing materials and process innovation, whole-robot assembly, supply-chain coordination and automation to cut costs. Qiyuan calls its system "automotive standards plus 3C scale": car-grade quality control combined with consumer-electronics precision manufacturing. Two weeks earlier the credit went to car-parts processes.

Usage numbers instead of an order count

Liu Dongfang, Qiyuan co-president and head of its Q business unit, said the monthly active rate is above 98%, the daily online peak is above 40%, average daily online time is 3 hours, and each user interacts with the robot more than 100 times a day. Online time is not the same as use, and an active rate counts only robots that have already been delivered.

The strongest evidence for demand is two weeks old. On Oct. 25, Qiyuan's store on Huaihai Middle Road in Shanghai told Caiwen the robots were sold out, and a new order showed Dec. 8 as the earliest delivery. The 88 cm Qiyuan Q1 humanoid robot starts at 19,999 yuan; the T1, which switches between a wheel-legged humanoid and a quadruped form, runs to 29,999 yuan for the Pro. Both received their first OTA update, with nearly 50 improvements, three days before the milestone.

Liu called 10,000 units "the key commercial turning point" for personal robots entering homes and said it clears the road to 100,000 and then a million. At the past fortnight's average, the next 90,000 would take about eight months.