Why 10,000 buyers pre-ordered UBTech's new emotional AI robot

Chinese robotics manufacturer UBTech has finalized pricing and release details for its U1 series of humanoid companion robots.

UBTech founder Zhou Jian announced that the U1 lineup starts at 119,800 yuan (approximately $17,000) for the U1 Lite, an upper-body-only version, while the standard U1 Pro is priced at 169,800 yuan (roughly $24,000). The flagship U1 Ultra commands 880,000 yuan for the female model and 990,000 yuan (about $140,000) for the male version.

The event, themed "Love is eternal," confirmed that deliveries will begin in mid-September 2026.

The robots are available in male (183 cm, 42 kg) and female (168 cm, 35.2 kg) configurations, each featuring 88 degrees of freedom for human-like movement. Pre-orders opened on JD.com on June 2 with a 3,000-yuan deposit, and the company reported surpassing 10,000 reservations by the time of the launch event — ten times its total 2025 sales volume, according to Zhou.

Companionship Robots

UBTech is marketing the U1 line exclusively to adults for emotional companionship rather than household chores. The system operates on a Rockchip RK3588 processor and utilizes an AI model trained on the Huawei Ascend framework. To address privacy concerns, the company stores all personal data locally rather than on external servers. Journalists at the event observed highly lifelike visual designs but noted the facial expressions and conversational capabilities require further refinement.

Read the original Post from UBTech on X:

UBTECH Robotics@UBTECHRobotics

Unveil UBTECH Full-Size Advanced Bionic Humanoid Robot——U1 Pro Series 🤖✨ U1 Pro comes with a Built‑in Memory‑Emotional AI Model, Enhanced Human‑Robot Interaction, Local Encryption of Memory, and Customizable Appearance. More tech surprises on the way. Stay tuned. 🚀 #UWORLD

12:04 PM · Jun 8, 2026 · 410K Views

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