Yong Qian

Yong Qian

Robotics & Physical AI product leader. 20+ years turning automation, edge infrastructure, and AI into field-ready products.

Executive Profile

PHYSICAL AI & ROBOTICS PRODUCT EXECUTIVE

20+ years across industrial robotics, field deployment, edge infrastructure, and AI products. Founder with three exits. Built products and led teams across China, Europe, and the United States—from automotive production systems and industrial IoT to global edge networking and humanoid robotics.

20+ Years Robotics & Automation · 3 Exits · 7K+ Users / 26 Countries · China–Europe–U.S. · Humanoid + Industrial Robotics · Hardware → Edge → Cloud → AI

Yong Qian works at the point where robotics R&D must become a product customers can deploy, operate, and trust. He combines field experience in commissioning and production support with product strategy, technical architecture, commercialization, and cross-border leadership. His operating principle is simple: a demo is not a product.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Istituto Marangoni, Shanghai, China — Tutor | Current

  • Part-Time Tutor, AI × Fashion and Fashion × Robotics

ARTOP GROUP, Shanghai, China — External Chief Design Consultant | Current

  • Advise on robotics and intelligent-hardware product direction, connecting customer needs, industrial design, engineering constraints, and commercialization.
  • Help shape products from early concept through a credible design and delivery path.

JetX — Humanoid Robotics Product Manager | Current

  • Define product requirements, customer workflows, and delivery priorities for a humanoid robot program.

Independent / qianyong.me — Principal, Physical AI Product & Deployment Strategy | 2025 to Present

  • Advise robotics and industrial teams on product definition, deployment readiness, production recovery, edge architecture, and commercialization.
  • Define credible first use cases, task boundaries, data loops, acceptance criteria, and field evidence for Physical AI products.
  • Evaluated and declined a $7M robotics opportunity when the available platform could not responsibly meet the deployment requirements, protecting the customer from an unworkable commitment.

Spirit AI, Beijing, China — Head of Products / Robotics Product Manager | September 2025 to November 2025

  • Owned product vision, roadmap, requirements, and execution planning for next-generation humanoid robots, data-collector products, and supporting infrastructure.
  • Translated hardware capability, AI readiness, customer workflows, and field constraints into deployable product requirements.
  • Bridged R&D, engineering, and product execution across use-case definition, data strategy, system architecture, and commercialization.

Stealth Startups — Director of Products, Contract | July 2025 to August 2025

  • Converted customer needs into launchable product concepts spanning IoT, SaaS, AI, humanoid robotics, and data-collector platforms.
  • Defined target users, initial product scope, task boundaries, hardware/software architecture, and launch requirements.

OmniEdge Inc, Austin, U.S. — Founder & CEO / CPO | September 2021 to April 2025

  • Built an open-source peer-to-peer mesh networking SaaS to 7,000+ users across 26 countries and completed a strategic exit.
  • Shipped across Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Docker, Synology, OpenWrt, GitHub Actions, and AWS; contributed directly to critical product components and documentation.
  • Built and led a distributed team across Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Macao, Germany, the United States, and China, with members from AMD, Alibaba, and other global technology companies.
  • Created and exited DeepFashion.us, an AIGC SaaS for personalized generative design models, and led robotics consulting engagements that improved automotive equipment stability and yield.

JIEQI EdgeComputing Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China — Founder & CEO | September 2018 to February 2021

  • Built industrial IoT hardware and SaaS for secure remote access to PLCs, robots, vision systems, and industrial equipment.
  • Designed the hardware-to-cloud product around industrial routers, WireGuard connectivity, AWS, and native iOS, Windows, and Android applications.
  • Raised outside capital, recruited an international team, and built enterprise relationships with Frimo, Stäubli, Adient, Grupo Antolin, and the industrial automation ecosystem.

Frimo (Germany) GmbH — Robotics Programmer / APAC Field Deployment Lead | December 2012 to September 2018

  • Delivered automotive automation programs across Asia and Europe, coordinating headquarters, regional teams, suppliers, and international OEM customers.
  • Commissioned, debugged, and supported systems integrating industrial robots, PLCs, offline programming, process equipment, and machine vision.
  • Led field troubleshooting, localization, customer acceptance, and production support for complex manufacturing programs.

Frimo (Shanghai), China — Automation Engineer | April 2010 to May 2012

  • Directed industrial robotics projects from concept, feasibility, simulation, and offline programming through deployment and production support.
  • Developed localization solutions for China-market customer requirements and delivered on-site system integration.

Stäubli, Hangzhou, China — Robotics Technical Support | April 2006 to March 2010

  • Early member of Stäubli’s China robotics operation, responsible for field service, troubleshooting, repair, pre-sales, feasibility, integration support, and customer training across China and Asia-Pacific.
  • Designed and developed China’s first no-code industrial robotics laser-cutting system.

EXECUTIVE CAPABILITIES

  • Physical AI product leadership: Humanoid robotics, use-case definition, task boundaries, data collection, edge/cloud architecture, roadmap ownership, and field-readiness decisions.
  • Robotics deployment: Robot programming, PLCs, machine vision, commissioning, debugging, safety, reliability, customer acceptance, and production recovery.
  • 0-to-1 product building: Hardware/software systems, industrial IoT, edge networking, AI SaaS, product architecture, fundraising, team building, and founder-led GTM.
  • Cross-border operations: Product, engineering, customer, and partner leadership across China, Germany, the United States, Mexico, and distributed international teams.

SELECTED IMPACT

  • Three exits: OmniEdge, DeepFashion.us, and JIEQI EdgeComputing across open-source SaaS, AIGC, and industrial IoT.
  • Global product scale: 7,000+ OmniEdge users across 26 countries.
  • Automotive deployment: Delivered automation work in BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Ford, Hyundai, and global supplier environments.
  • Field judgment: Declined a $7M robotics deal when the technology could not meet the required deployment standard.
  • Industrial innovation: Built integrated IIoT products and an early no-code robotic laser-cutting system.

PATENTS & SELECTED CREDENTIALS

  • Industrial Controller, CN305878600S, issued June 26, 2020 — controller for industrial process parameters, remote control, rapid machine deployment, and failure prediction.
  • Industrial Controller, CN305301146S, issued August 13, 2019 — industrial IoT controller for collecting and deploying machine process data.
  • Machine Learning, Stanford Online, 2017; FANUC Robot Programming, 2011; ABB Robotics & IRC5 Advanced Application Training, 2010.

EDUCATION

Master in Commerce Management and Marketing | 2023–2024

Escuela de Negocios Europea de Barcelona / Universidad Isabel I, Spain

Bachelor’s Degree in Machine Design and its Automation | 2002–2006

Henan University of Science & Technology, China

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS & SPEAKING

  • White Paper on Supply Chain Innovation and Application Based on Industrial Internet, Editorial Board Member, 2021. [Link]
  • Industrial Robots Empowered by Internet Technologies: How to Increase Core Added Value, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 2018. [Link]
  • OmniEdge: Bring Intranet on the Internet, ntopconf, Bocconi University, Milan, 2022. [Link]
  • AI Is Facilitating the Growth of Next-Generation Designers, China Fashion Summit, Beijing, 2024. [Link]
  • Leveraging the Power of Modular Design for Enhanced Manufacturing Efficiency. [Link]

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

  • Languages: Chinese (native), English (professional working proficiency), Spanish (elementary proficiency).
  • Global footprint: Lived and worked in China, Germany, and the United States, with operating experience across Asia, Europe, and North America.
  • Community: Founded roboticsfaq.com, a nonprofit robotics community (2012–2016), and xulung.com, a nonprofit engineering training platform (2015–2017).