Choose the QS-S25
You want a mature, established platform with a European dealer network behind it, a settled software stack, and a supplier relationship that already exists in this market.
Compare · Qubic
The closest
like-for-like.
The Qubic QS-S25 and the PDK are the most directly comparable pair on this site: both are genuine six-axis parallel-kinematic platforms in roughly the same class. That makes the differences narrow and specific, which is the most useful kind of comparison to read.
Side by side
Two real hexapods.
Where a row says the same thing twice, it says the same thing twice. Manufactured differences are not worth inventing when the machines genuinely agree.
| Qubic QS-S25 | ARK PDK | |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | 6-DOF platform, six linear actuators | 6-DOF Stewart-Gough, six direct-drive legs |
| Actuation | Linear actuators | Direct-drive BLDC outrunners, field-oriented control |
| Static load | Carried by the actuators | Carried pneumatically, patent CA 3217174 C |
| Control rate | Not published for the QS-S25 | 8 kHz drive loop per motor · 3.3 kHz IK · 1 kHz commands — all internal |
| Transport delay | Latency under 8 ms, as published | Under 1 ms — command issued to actuator moving; end-to-end path published on /technology/latency/ |
| Power draw | Approximately 240 W average at 120 V, 200 W at 230 V, typical game | 30 kW peak from a capacitor bank; standard domestic mains input |
| Supply | As published by the manufacturer | 100–290 V domestic mains, single phase |
| Price | €29,500 basic set (€29,500–€34,900 with cockpit and monitor sets), list, net, ex-works, as published | $4,899.99 PDK · $6,299.99 PDK Racer · $8,499.99 Ecosystem |
| Network | Established European retail dealer network, mature software stack | Direct, plus a community. No dealer network. |
Figures in the other column are read from the manufacturer's published material, with source and retrieval date. Manufacturers revise specifications — if one here is out of date, tell us and it gets corrected. The peak-power row compares two different quantities — an average draw during play against an instantaneous capacitor-backed peak. They are not the same measurement and should not be read as one.
Sources: Motion Systems — QS-S25 6DOF Qubic System Motion Platform, motionsystems.eu, retrieved 2026-09-13; Qubic System — QS-S25, qubicsystem.com, retrieved 2026-09-13; Qubic System — User manual for QS-S25, §2.7–2.9, qubicsystem.com, retrieved 2026-09-13.
Which one you want
A real choice, not a foregone one.
Choose the PDK
You want direct drive with no transmission anywhere in the load path, pneumatic weight compensation, an open interface with no vendor layer, and a published price at a different order of magnitude.
Where we are behind
A dealer network, a mature first-party software stack, and years of field history are real advantages and we do not have them yet. If those matter more to you than architecture, that is a reasonable conclusion.
Keep reading
What datasheets leave out
The method behind this page, applied to us before anyone else.
Moog
The same architecture at full-cabin scale.
Direct drive
The architectural difference this comparison turns on.