Ubtech Defends Bionic Robot Battery Life as Industry Norm
Chinese robotics company Ubtech (优必选) has pushed back against growing controversy over its newly launched U1 Series full-size bionic companion robots, asserting that a 2-4 hour battery life is standard across the humanoid robotics industry and clarifying that the devices are designed for emotional companionship — not romantic relationships. The response, reported by The Paper, comes after intense public debate erupted over pricing, battery life, ethics, and the robots’ actual capabilities following the product’s launch on June 30.
The Controversy at a Glance
Ubtech’s consumer brand UWORLD launched the U1 series in Shenzhen with three models: the semi-body U1 Lite (¥119,800/$16,500), the full-body U1 Pro (¥169,800/$23,400), and the high-dynamic U1 Ultra (¥880,000-¥990,000/~$121,000-$136,000). While pre-sales surged — exceeding 13,361 orders across all channels by launch day — the reception quickly turned skeptical.
Critics zeroed in on several pain points: the 2-4 hour battery life, the high price tag for a robot that cannot walk autonomously or perform household chores, and the “adults only” labeling that fueled speculation about the product’s true nature. The contrast was sharpened when competitor Chun Shui Tang launched a similar companion robot on July 2 for just ¥15,000.
Battery Life: Industry Reality or Consumer Letdown?
Ubtech’s defense of the 2-4 hour battery life is technically accurate. As OFweek noted in its analysis, current full-size humanoid robots universally face this limitation — a fundamental constraint of battery technology, motor efficiency, and the power demands of 88 high-degree-of-freedom joints. The U1 Pro, for instance, packs 88 joints, 200 TOPS of AI processing power, and a Resonance-LM emotional AI model, all of which draw significant power.
However, the explanation has done little to satisfy consumers accustomed to all-day smartphone battery life. The gap between marketing promises and actual product capabilities was evident at the launch event itself, where reviewers noted mechanical walking, delayed responses, and stiff facial expressions — leading some online to joke that the robots moved “like stroke patients.”
Emotional Companionship, Not Romance
Ubtech has been emphatic about the product’s positioning. “Ubtech’s bionic robots are positioned as emotional companionship — this is a direction advocated and recognized by the state,” the company stated. “They are not boyfriends, girlfriends, or partners.”
The “adults only” label, rather than signaling adult content, appears to be a legal safeguard. As ZAKER News explained, the restriction helps avoid “uncanny valley” psychological risks for children and navigates complex legal territory around data privacy and emotional dependency for minors. The robots store personal data locally with encrypted memory, but the intimate nature of the data collected — user preferences, emotional patterns, daily habits — raises legitimate privacy questions.
A Company Under Pressure
Ubtech’s pivot to consumer bionic robots is as much about survival as strategy. The company, once hailed as China’s “first humanoid robot stock” with a market cap peaking at HK$130 billion, has seen its valuation shrink by roughly two-thirds to approximately HK$46.6 billion. According to 36Kr, Ubtech accumulated losses exceeding ¥4.2 billion from 2022 to 2025. While 2025 revenue reached ¥2.001 billion (up 53.3% year-over-year), net losses still stood at ¥790 million.
Meanwhile, competitors are pulling ahead. In 2025, Zhiyuan Robot shipped 5,168 humanoid units and Unitree shipped 4,200-5,511 units — compared to Ubtech’s roughly 1,000. Unitree’s 2025 revenue hit ¥1.708 billion with a net profit of ¥600 million, demonstrating a path to profitability that Ubtech has yet to find.
Regulatory and Ethical Dimensions
The controversy has not gone unnoticed by regulators. On July 4, the China Humanoid Robot 100-Person Committee and the China Machinery Industry Federation jointly issued an initiative calling for healthy, orderly development of emotional companion humanoid robots. As China Economic Net reported, the initiative emphasizes “科技向善” (technology for good) and urges the industry to address privacy protection and ethical risks.
Ubtech has sought to stay ahead of regulatory scrutiny, establishing an AI and Robotics Ethics Committee on launch day and appointing National People’s Congress representative Yan Jianguo as chief expert. The company has publicly pledged to implement compliance requirements across its entire product lifecycle.
What’s Next
The real test will come in September 2026, when Ubtech aims to begin delivering the first batch of U1 robots. The company has set an ambitious target of delivering over 10,000 units by year-end — a tenfold increase from its 2025 industrial robot output. As Wall Street CN reported, Ubtech VP Jiao Jichao acknowledged that mass production of the U1 series, with its 2,000-3,000 components in the head alone, presents “a very big challenge.”
Several critical questions remain unanswered: What will the actual conversion rate be from the 13,361 pre-orders? Can Ubtech scale production from roughly 6,000 units per year to 10,000+ in six months? And most importantly, will the emotional AI model deliver on its promises once robots enter real homes?
As OFweek’s analysis aptly summarized: “The current humanoid robot industry is generally trapped in a dilemma where ‘technological ideals are disconnected from commercial implementation.’” Ubtech’s U1 series is the latest — and most ambitious — test of whether that gap can be bridged.