UBTECH LAUNCHED A HUMANOID ROBOT TO BE YOUR LIFELONG FRIEND

Chinese robotics company UBTECH unveiled the U1 humanoid robot at a launch event in Shenzhen on June 30, 2026, pitching it as a lifelong companion for single and elderly people. The company said 13,361 orders were already in by launch day, with prices starting at 119,800 yuan.

UBTECH billed the U1 Series, sold under its consumer brand UWORLD, as the world’s first full-size ultra-bionic humanoid robot designed for mass production, according to a PR Newswire release.

The pitch was blunt about the emotional part. The Independent quoted Michael Tam, who runs the UWorld brand, from the event: “Our bionic robots can accompany you for a lifetime.”

Tam kept going. “It will never betray you, will always be loyal to you, and will love you unconditionally.”

UBTECH named its target as the “colossal market” of single and elderly people in China. Its release pointed to more than 90 million adults living alone in the country and 118 million empty-nest seniors.

Eyes that check whether you are tired

The lineup has three models: the U1 Lite, a semi-torso edition, the full-body U1 Pro, and the high-dynamic full-body U1 Ultra. UBTECH said the series has 88 degrees of freedom and a dual-pivot biomimetic cervical spine, which it claimed can replicate up to 90% of fundamental human movements.

The robot runs on emotional AI. The company said its emotion-aware language model recognizes more than 20 fine-grained emotional states with accuracy above 90%, and The Independent reported that camera-equipped eyes are meant to tell whether an owner is stressed or tired.

UBTECH also said its expression system keeps speech-to-lip lag within 20 milliseconds, and that the robot can respond without a wake word. It comes in male and female versions. The company said it is not designed for intimate relations “for now.”

Listed uses include companionship, emotional support, elder care, hospitality, research, education, tourism and exhibitions.

On privacy, TechNode reported that interaction data is encrypted and stored locally by default, with no mandatory cloud uploads. UBTECH described a three-layer setup of local-first processing, minimal cloud dependency and user-controlled hardware safeguards.

The company already had a robot with a self-sufficient streak. Its earlier Walker S2 was described as able to monitor its power and swap its own battery without human help. China has also named humanoid robots among its strategic industries for economic growth, The Independent reported.

UBTECH CEO James Zhou framed the launch as a step in a longer plan, moving from dangerous and repetitive work to everyday companionship and eventually smoother human and robot interaction.

The company also announced plans to donate 100 customized U1 robots in 2026 for mental well-being programs. UBTECH said those units would use 3D facial reconstruction and voiceprint-based identity replication to recreate designated individuals, for groups such as children growing up apart from their parents and older adults living alone.

On August 28, 2026, UBTECH filed a report with HKEX describing the U1 Series with its male and female designs, 88 degrees of freedom and a role built around companionship and interaction.

VnExpress and TechNode reported that deliveries were scheduled to begin on September 16, 2026. Robotic China reported that they did start that day, with international certification and overseas sales planned for 2027.

The first robots went to Chinese dealership groups and South Korea’s Galaxy Robot Park. The Korea Times reported that the Seoul venue received a female-design U1 standing 1.68 meters tall, which a UBTECH executive said costs about 170,000 yuan.