{"id":843921,"date":"2026-08-03T07:14:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T07:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843921\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T07:14:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T07:14:45","slug":"first-impressions-count-as-chinese-buyers-open-their-homes-to-ubtechs-consumer-humanoids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843921\/","title":{"rendered":"First impressions count as Chinese buyers open their homes to UBTech\u2019s consumer humanoids"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When 39-year-old Beijing investor Song shelled out 159,800 yuan (US$23,680) for a companion robot, he knew it would not be cooking meals or scrubbing floors. For him, becoming one of China\u2019s first owners of a consumer humanoid was more about <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/tech\/tech-war\/article\/3362195\/china-has-6-worlds-10-most-innovative-humanoid-robot-start-ups-report?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">embracing the cutting edge<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThe happiest part is often the waiting,\u201d Song said of his decision to buy the female version of the U1 Pro, made by Shenzhen-based UBTech Robotics.<\/p>\n<p>For years, humanoid robots have been confined to factory floors and structured assembly lines. Now, Chinese <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/economy\/china-economy\/article\/3361993\/chinas-robotics-industry-quietly-cornering-new-niche-and-shipyards-stand-gain?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">robotics firms<\/a> are testing whether machines can find a home in living rooms.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Unlike industrial robots built for repetitive tasks in controlled settings, household humanoids must navigate unpredictable spaces, interact naturally with people, and eventually deliver real companion value \u2013 or even domestic help.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">UBTech is among the first Chinese makers attempting the leap. The company said its U1 series had racked up 13,361 orders by June 30 \u2013 less than a month after opening pre-sales in early June \u2013 with initial deliveries scheduled to begin on September 16.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The line-up spans three models \u2013 Lite, Pro and Ultra \u2013 ranging from partial-body units to full-sized humanoids, with prices running from 119,800 yuan to 990,000 yuan. Designed primarily for emotional companionship, the robots were capable of facial expressions, voice interaction and artificial intelligence-driven conversations, according to the company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When 39-year-old Beijing investor Song shelled out 159,800 yuan (US$23,680) for a companion robot, he knew it would&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,8580,49,48,95,27958,293914,43795,54760,6875,61,69686,293912,129410,129411,292702,293913,51977,293915],"class_list":["post-843921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-beijing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-china","tag-chinese","tag-companionship-economy","tag-humanoid-robots","tag-jiangsu-province","tag-song","tag-technology","tag-trendforce","tag-u-pro","tag-ubtech","tag-ubtech-robotics","tag-yunnan-province","tag-zebin-wang","tag-zhejiang-province","tag-zhou-jian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}