Our Friends Electric

More than a decade later, UBTECH is among the latest companies taking a step toward embodying that vision.　

At its 2026 global launch event on June 30 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, the AI and robotics company unveiled its UWORLD U1 series, a lineup of full-size, ultra-bionic humanoid robots.　

The robots, standing between 1.60 and 1.85 meters tall, made their debut with a runway show before waltzing with human dance partners.　

Designed for companionship, each comes with large language models geared for emotional development, encrypted memory storage and customizable appearances.　

UBTECH is far from the only Chinese startup entering this field. Unlike humanoid robots designed for manual labor, these companies focus on creating human-like facial features, skin texture, voices and body temperature, while training robots for emotional interaction.　

But as these robots increasingly resemble human companions, the boundaries of "companionship" are becoming less clear. Their attractiveness, ability to emote and capacity to simulate bonds put them somewhere beyond the conventional role of a machine. In some cases, companionship may naturally evolve into romance or intimacy, possibilities that are raising new issues for lawmakers about how the industry should be regulated.

Its new U1 series ranges from the 119,800-yuan (US$17,696) half-body Lite to the flagship Ultra, which has autonomous locomotion and enhanced computing power for up to 999,000 yuan (US$147,568). They also come with male or female appearances.　

Speaking at the launch event, Zhou Jian, UBTECH's founder and CEO, said the industry had previously focused on whether robots could perform household chores. Today, however, he believes people increasingly seek companionship, happiness and emotional fulfillment.　

His view reflects broader demographic trends. According to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China's adult single population surpassed 300 million in 2026. That figure is close to the population of the entire US (342.7 million) and exceeds the combined populations of the UK, France and Germany. Nearly one in four Chinese adults is now single.　

China is also aging rapidly. According to the National Health Commission, the country's population aged 60 and above reached about 320 million by the end of 2025, accounting for roughly 23 percent of the total population. The commission projects that figure will exceed 400 million by 2035.　

Zhou argues that industrial humanoid robots risk becoming little more than hardware products with limited ecosystem potential. But consumer humanoid robots could generate not only hardware sales but also long-term subscription revenue, making them more profitable over time.　

On launch day, UBTECH received 13,361 orders, with deliveries slated for September 16.

Assuming every order was for the entry-level U1 Lite, that equates to more than 1.5 billion yuan (US$191m), or about 77 percent of the company's total 2025 revenue. UBTECH aims to produce 10,000 U1 units this year and expand annual production capacity to 50,000 units by 2027.　

Toward the end of the launch event, UBTECH demonstrated several of its human-faced robots on stage. Videos shared online showed noticeable mechanical stiffness while walking, as well as clear differences between the robots' real-world appearance and the polished promotional renders released earlier, prompting some netizens to accuse the company of misleading consumers.　

Jiao Jichao, UBTECH's vice president, said in an interview at the launch event that the greatest technical challenges in building highly lifelike humanoid robots lie in the head. These include facial muscle movements, coordinated neck motion and binocular vision for eye tracking, all of which require extremely precise control and synchronization.

At an office in Shenzhen's Nanshan District, our reporter met Suyan, a female robot developed by Shenzhen Yizhizai Intelligent Technology. Designed for emotional companionship, Suyan is scheduled to be delivered to its first overseas customers in October.　

Two Suyan models are displayed in the company's lobby. One sits on a chair wearing a blouse and high heels, while the other stands against the wall in a sporty, casual outfit. Tall and slender, with soft skin and carefully applied makeup, Suyan can be mistaken for a real person from a distance.　

Wu Heng, Yizhizai's founder, told NewsChina that the team's priority is not hardware specifications or movement performance, but how well the robot matches users' vision of an ideal companion. To achieve that, the company analyzed preferred facial features, voices and personalities from users of Chinese and overseas social media platforms.　

Suyan targets male and female users between the ages of 35 and 55. According to the company's research, this group prefers a sophisticated, empathetic and emotionally mature female companion. The team aimed to give Suyan an air of affluence and success, while having the calm temperament of a therapist.　

This design philosophy differs sharply from that of general-purpose humanoid robots.　

"Robots designed for household chores should be completely separate from those created to provide emotional value," Wu said. "The latter must embody mechanical beauty, from aesthetic appeal to graceful body proportions."　

"When designing female robots, we consider waist-to-hip ratios. For male robots, we emphasize defined abdominal muscles and a lean physique," he added.　

Besides Suyan, Yizhizai is developing two male robots with "domineering CEO" and "idol trainee" personas, both popular archetypes among young Chinese women.　

A staple of Chinese romance fiction and dramas, the "domineering CEO" is a wealthy, alpha-male businessman devoted to the female lead. The "idol trainee" is a young aspiring pop singer trained under an entertainment agency while building a close connection with fans.　

The company is also developing a female robot modeled as a zoology undergraduate. According to the company, social media research found that both men and women favor the image of a well-educated young woman with a career and a gentle personality. A zoology student, it says, conveys intelligence, professionalism and compassion toward both animals and people.　

The robot's bionic skin is also engineered to enhance interaction. When users touch the robot, the contact area gradually warms. Its cheeks can heat to 42 C, mimicking the physiological blush of embarrassment.　

China already has a large industry producing lifelike sex dolls, which are legal consumer products. Companion robots introduce a significant difference, however, and the legal and ethical questions surrounding them are only beginning to emerge.　

In an April 2025 article published on qq.com, Zhou Chuikun, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke Law Firm, examined some of the potential issues surrounding robots designed for sexual purposes. He noted that sexual activity involving a robot would not constitute prostitution because a robot is not a human providing a sexual service.　

That does not mean such interactions would necessarily be legal. Zhou said other laws could apply depending on how the robot was designed or used. A robot made to resemble a minor, for example, could violate laws protecting minors, while robots designed specifically to provide sexual services or remotely controlled to engage in sexual acts could raise issues involving obscene materials and electronic information.　

But the bigger legal question may be what these machines are in the eyes of the law.　

In a May 2024 article published by the cultural platform Vistopia, Zhai Zhiyong, a professor at Beihang University's School of Law, wrote that Chinese law currently neither prohibits the development of companion robots nor recognizes them as a distinct legal category.　

"For now, regulation focuses primarily on safety, while ethical questions remain under observation as society is yet to develop a broader consensus," he wrote.　

Zhai noted that lawmakers could theoretically go further, including prohibiting the development of certain companion robots or even banning romantic or sexual relationships between humans and machines. "But such measures would require substantial public support that is not currently evident," he wrote.　

In the meantime, the industry's considerations of visual appeal remain a high priority.　

On January 30, Shanghai Zhuoyide Robot launched Moya, a bionic robot designed primarily to provide care and companionship for older adults. Unlike Suyan, Moya has pink hair, a round face and deliberately understated features intended to appear warm and approachable rather than conventionally beautiful.　

Tang Jun, co-founder and vice president of bipedal products at Zhuoyide, told NewsChina that the team considered creating an "influencer-like" face but ultimately rejected the idea. They worried that overly standardized beauty would feel "too artificial."　

Experts say highly realistic appearances are a necessity for authentic humanrobot interaction. "Combining visual and tactile perception creates a more immersive sense of companionship, compensating for the limitations of voice-only AI, which lacks physical presence and expressive feedback," said Liu Wei, director of the Human-Computer Interaction and Cognition Engineering Laboratory at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.　

However, designs must strike a delicate balance. "Excessive realism can trigger the uncanny valley effect, in which subtle imperfections in facial features or micro-expressions create a strong sense of discomfort," he added.　

In 1970, Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori proposed the now-famous "uncanny valley" hypothesis. It suggests that once a robot becomes almost human in appearance, even tiny unnatural details can result in feelings of unease, repulsion or even fear.　

For more than two decades, researchers and manufacturers have worked to overcome this psychological barrier.　

Cao Rongyuan, founder of Wulun Technology, whose company developed a multimodal bionic facial robot called Annie, told NewsChina that subtle natural movements are key.　

Functions such as gaze tracking, sustained eye contact and precisely synchronized lip movements all depend on close integration between mechanical design, motion control and interaction algorithms.　

Cao recalled that early versions of Annie could match mouth movements only to a limited set of pre-programmed speech segments. During live conversations, lip movements lagged speech by 200 to 300 milliseconds, far from bridging the uncanny valley.　

To solve the problem, the company redesigned the robot's cranial structure to accommodate additional micromotors, enabling more nuanced facial movements such as pouting and pursing the lips. Building on a general lipmotion model, the team then collected Chinese pronunciation data, refined its control algorithms for different mouth shapes and developed a predictive precomputation system. The result was a reduction in lip-sync delay to less than 50 milliseconds, less perceptible to the human eye.

To Wu, this reflects a deeper emotional need. "Users have found a way to ease their loneliness," he said.　

One customer left a lasting impression on Wu. An overseas buyer paid full price for a Suyan model to be a companion for his terminally ill younger brother. During his brother's final months in the hospital, the two often talked about Suyan's development and the features she would have.　

The younger brother died before the robot was delivered. But the customer chose not to cancel the order, saying that Suyan had become a "bridge of love" connecting him with his brother's memory.　

Tang Jun once worked as a caregiver in a nursing home. He found that senior care facilities are rarely short of nursing staff. What many older people truly lack, he said, is someone willing to listen and talk with them.　

"These robots have clear practical value in elder care," Tang said. "Beyond conversation, they can guide older adults through exercises and remind them to take their medication."　

Even so, lifelike robots are far from becoming the perfect soulmate.　

Liu Wei said today's AI systems simulate empathy mainly through large language models, emotion recognition and carefully designed conversational patterns, rather than a genuine understanding of complex human emotions.　

"When responses become repetitive or formulaic over long-term interactions, users seeking deep emotional companionship will inevitably feel disappointed," Liu said.　

Language is not the only limitation. According to UBTECH, a full battery charge for its U1 series lasts only two to four hours. That means a robot costing nearly 1 million yuan (US$148,061) may need to return to its charging dock after only a few hours of conversation with its owner.　

Cai Bingzhen, director of the Gaogong Robotics Research Institute, told News- China that two to four hours is currently typical for full-size, bipedal humanoid robots equipped with dual arms.　

"Although robots can theoretically operate while charging, doing so greatly diminishes the user experience," Cai said. "In home settings, that limitation becomes even more obvious."　

He argued that user experience is especially critical for companion robots.　

"If users are talking with a robot they perceive as an individual and it suddenly shuts down because the battery is depleted, they are instantly reminded that it isn't warm companionship at all, but simply a cold machine."

"The lonelier people become, the more they may come to depend on machines," Liu said.　

These concerns are no longer entirely hypothetical. China has already begun regulating AI companionship services. Jointly issued by five government departments, measures specifically targeting the AI companionship industry took effect on July 15.　

Among its provisions, the Interim Measures for the Management of Anthropomorphic AI Interactive Services prohibit designs that encourage emotional dependence or addiction.　

They also explicitly ban virtual companions for minors, require reminders after more than two hours of continuous use, mandate interventions when systems detect signs of emotional dependency, and require emergency response mechanisms when users display extreme emotional distress.　

In an interview with Xinmin Evening News, Li Xueqing, an associate professor at the School of Media and Communication at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said excessive reliance on AI companions among minors deserves particular attention because young people are more vulnerable to forming addictive attachments.　

For older people living alone, however, she believes AI companions can help reduce loneliness and supplement, rather than replace, human relationships. Li argued that regulations should distinguish between different user groups rather than adopt a one-size-fits-all approach.　

"What's important isn't whether AI will replace humans," Li said. "It's understanding which emotional needs AI can meet, and which should remain part of human-to-human relationships."