There’s a reason many robotics companies don’t try to make their machines look human. The closer you get to replicating a real face and real skin, somehow the weirder the whole thing feels. It’s a well-documented phenomenon, known as the uncanny valley effect, and it’s perhaps why so many humanoid robot companies today (like Boston Dynamics) lean towards a more plastic-and-metal aesthetic. But a Shanghai-based startup called DroidUp apparently didn’t get the memo. The company just debuted a humanoid robot called Moya at Zhangjiang Robotics Valley, an industrial park in Shanghai focused on building a national-level robotics hub. It hosts over 150 companies – and DroidUp happens to be one of them.
DroidUp is calling Moya “the world’s first fully bionic embodied intelligent robot.” That’s a lot of words, but it basically means it’s designed to look, move, and feel like an actual person. It’s also a bold claim given how far China’s AI robots have come in the last couple of years. Footage that circulated on Chinese social media shows Moya grinning, tilting her head, and locking eyes with whoever is standing in front of her. She’s also capable of pulling off those subtle facial movements that humans do unconsciously, like a slight eyebrow raise or a twitch at the corner of the mouth. This is done using an internal camera system paired with AI.
She’s warm, quite literally
But Moya is a lot more because DroidUp went deep on the physical details, too. She stands about 5 feet 5 inches tall, about the same as an average adult human, and weighs roughly 70 pounds. Moreover, her body runs on a modular platform. This allows DroidUp to change her look and even swap between male and female presentations while keeping all the hardware underneath the same. Additionally, below her silicone exterior, there are layers meant to feel like actual human tissue, like soft padding that imitates what’s normally under our skin. She even has a rib cage.
And then there’s the part that might actually be the most unsettling of all – she’s warm. No, not in an amiable manner, but rather quite literally. DroidUp engineered Moya’s skin to stay between 90 and 97 degrees Fahrenheit, so she actually feels warm when you touch her. There’s a reason behind this, according to DroidUp founder Li Qingdu. “A robot that truly serves human life should be warm, almost like a living being that people can connect with,” he told Shanghai Eye.
The company claims Moya walks with 92 percent human-like accuracy, though you can tell in the video it’s not perfect. Her stride has a stiffness to it if you watch closely. As for who’s actually going to buy one of these, DroidUp is positioning Moya for healthcare, companionship, and business. And you’ll need deep pockets regardless. The starting price is expected to land around $173,000 when she enters the market, which DroidUp says should happen by late 2026.