Zhiyuan Unveils Worken, First Physical AI Value Metric for Robots

On October 29, at the 2026 Zhiyuan Innovation Day, Zhiyuan co-founder Peng Zhihui unveiled Worken, short for effective intelligent work hours, according to National Business Daily. The metric is intended to measure the real output of robots operating autonomously, rather than only hardware specifications or demo performance.

Peng framed the launch as part of a broader pattern in industrial history. He noted that the steam age used horsepower to gauge machine power, while the electric age used kilowatt-hours to gauge energy consumption. In his view, physical AI now needs its own unit to compare productivity across robot models and deployment scenarios.

Worken could give buyers and operators a common basis for evaluating autonomous systems, the report said. By tying value to effective work completed, the metric may help move robotics procurement and deployment toward measurable outcomes, although broad industry adoption will depend on standard definitions and transparent data.