UBTech opens presales for full-size U1 emotional companion humanoids

Chinese humanoid maker UBTech has moved its consumer strategy into presales for the U1, a full-size companion robot sold under its new UWORLD brand. Sixth Tone reports that sales opened June 2, 2026 on JD.com, with a refundable 3,000 yuan (~$440) deposit through July 15 and an official online launch set for June 30. The company had not published full retail pricing at press time, though trade coverage cites roughly 3,000+ early reservations in the first week and nearly 4,000 within ten days by mid-June.

UBTech bills the U1 as the world's first full-size, ultra-bionic humanoid built for emotional companionship, not factory work. That is a sharp break from its Walker industrial line, which Sixth Tone notes still lists around 6 million yuan per unit for enterprise buyers.

What UBTech says the U1 can do

• Two SKUs: male model 183 cm / 42 kg; female model 168 cm / 35.2 kg, both customizable and adults only
• 88 highly mobile joints, Wi-Fi, and 2 to 4 hours battery life per charge
• Affective AI with locally encrypted memory, framed for mood-aware conversation rather than chores
• Presale terms: 3,000 yuan deposit on JD.com; deliveries expected by mid-September per Gasgoo and The Standard
• No secondary development: presale materials describe a closed consumer product, not a developer platform

Founder Zhou Jian told domestic outlet LatePost (quoted by Sixth Tone) that UBTech is not trying to build a sex robot, but a companion that stays with users, plays games, and watches TV dramas without dismissing them. The same week, UBTech released demo footage of blinking, camera-tracking faces that drew both hype and criticism about stiffness and the uncanny valley on Chinese social media.

China context for home robot watchers

Sixth Tone situates the U1 launch inside China's humanoid manufacturing lead: Morgan Stanley data cited in the piece puts 2026 domestic humanoid sales near 28,000 units, with roughly 90% of last year's global shipments coming from Chinese makers. Consumer prices have collapsed from multi-million-yuan lab rigs toward five-figure yuan entry bots such as Unitree's R1 Air and Noetix's Bumi, even as full-size companions remain an open commercial experiment.

Other Chinese teams are testing emotional form factors too. EX Robots in Liaoning builds celebrity and historical figure androids mainly for museums. Noetix Robotics unveiled a 99,900 yuan conversational bust in May. The U1 is the most direct bid yet for a life-size home companion humanoid with mass-market presale mechanics.

What we do not know yet

UBTech has not posted a final MSRP, global ship countries, or independent long-form reviews of day-long companionship use. Presale pages describe specs and deposits, not warranty terms for silicone skin, memory privacy audits, or how affective AI behaves offline. Interesting Engineering cites analyst chatter around ~$30,000 pricing, but that remains unconfirmed until the June 30 launch.

Treat this as a high-interest presale, not a product you can compare on a finished price sheet yet.

What this means for HomeBotRadar

The U1 is not joining the HomeBotRadar catalog today. We list home and companion robots with verified specs, scores, and buy paths. A refundable JD.com deposit without public MSRP does not meet that bar.

The signal still matters for readers tracking social and emotional robots: a major Chinese humanoid vendor is betting on affective AI plus encrypted on-device memory as the product, not arm payload or warehouse throughput. That is closer to LOVOT, aibo, and Mirokaï territory than to Walker or Figure 02, even if the body looks humanoid rather than pet-like.

We are not updating any robot scores on this story alone. We do plan to expand our social and companion robot coverage over the coming months as more vendors publish confirmed pricing, ship windows, and regional storefronts. When UBTech releases final U1 MSRP, battery and autonomy details, and a stable consumer purchase page we can verify, we will evaluate whether it belongs in the database alongside our existing companion listings.