China’s Shangwei Qiyuan has attracted strong overseas interest for its small-sized humanoid robot after its first offline showcase at the CES trade show, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company’s “Qiyuan Q1” — billed as the world’s first small humanoid robot with full-body force control — made its debut appearance at CES2026 last week, drawing attention from global media including Forbes and Bloomberg, the people said.

The robot has generated “many” preliminary order leads from potential overseas clients during the event, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, who declined to be identified because the information is not public.

Shangwei Qiyuan is a subsidiary of Shangwei New Materials Co. Its founder and chairman Peng Zhihui, better known online as “Zhihui Jun,” has also been running a personal robot co-creation initiative dubbed the “Explorer Programme,” which has attracted more than5,000 participants so far, the source said.