{"slug": "ubtechs-lifelike-humanoid-robots-built-for-companionship-arriving-in-homes-china", "title": "UBTech’s lifelike humanoid robots built for companionship arriving in homes across China", "summary": "UBTech unveiled the U1 humanoid robot in Shenzhen on Tuesday, featuring silicone skin and emotional AI, priced from 119,800 yuan to 990,000 yuan. The robot is designed for domestic companionship, with 88 servo joints and local data storage, reflecting a push to expand robotics beyond industrial use.", "body_md": "# UBTech’s lifelike humanoid robots built for companionship arriving in homes across China\n\nThe unveiling of model U1, which has silicone skin and emotional AI, reflects tech firms’ drive to expand robotics beyond industrial use\n\n[Minxiao Chang](/author/minxiao-chang)in Shenzhen\n\n[transition robots](https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3356255/hong-kong-open-first-convenience-store-operated-humanoid-robot-ai-push?module=inline&pgtype=article)from the factory floor to the family living room.\n\nThe U1, unveiled on Tuesday in Shenzhen, comes in male and female versions, standing 183cm and 168cm tall, respectively.\n\nThe model is available in Lite, Pro and Ultra variants, priced from 119,800 yuan (US$17,650) to 990,000 yuan.\n\nIt features 88 servo joints, a silicone exterior and an emotional AI model running locally on Rockchip’s RK3588 processor. User data is stored on the device rather than uploaded to the cloud.\n\nUnlike most humanoid robots designed for industrial use, the U1 is intended for interaction with users in domestic settings.\n\n“The robot can hold conversations, maintain eye contact with users, and is available for sale only to adults,” according to staff at the launch event.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ubtechs-lifelike-humanoid-robots-built-for-companionship-arriving-in-homes-china", "canonical_source": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3358884/ubtechs-lifelike-humanoid-robots-built-companionship-arriving-homes-across-china?utm_source=rss_feed", "published_at": "2026-07-01 02:00:08+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-01 02:26:31.817919+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["robotics", "artificial-intelligence", "ai-products"], "entities": ["UBTech", "U1", "Rockchip", "RK3588", "Shenzhen"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ubtechs-lifelike-humanoid-robots-built-for-companionship-arriving-in-homes-china", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ubtechs-lifelike-humanoid-robots-built-for-companionship-arriving-in-homes-china.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ubtechs-lifelike-humanoid-robots-built-for-companionship-arriving-in-homes-china.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ubtechs-lifelike-humanoid-robots-built-for-companionship-arriving-in-homes-china.jsonld"}}