DEPLOYDatabase

Company

UBTech Robotics

UBTECH Robotics is a Chinese humanoid robotics company developing humanoid robots for education, service, and industrial applications.

Founded
2012
HQ
Shenzhen, China
Status
public

The verified answer

As of Aug 2026, DEPLOY verifies UBTech Robotics: 5 models, 6 deployments across 6 regions, $940.0M raised. 10 sources back the record.

CategoryHumanoids

Overview

UBTECH Robotics is a Chinese humanoid robotics company developing humanoid robots for education, service, and industrial applications. Products include Walker S (industrial humanoid), Alpha (education), and Cruzr (service). Listed on HKEX (9880.HK). Deployed Walker S at NIO, BYD, and Geely factories for automotive manufacturing tasks.

Verified record

Verified deployments
6 deployments on file
Active incidents
None on file

Key facts

Listingsee public companies

Public (HKEX), most notable publicly-traded pure-play humanoid

Robots

Walker S series (industrial), Alpha series (consumer)

Factory deployments

EV-factory test deployments (Zeekr Ningbo, BYD, NIO, others)

Strategy

Chinese cost-scale; among furthest-along Chinese humanoid brands

Product — Walker S

Industrial humanoid — deployed at NIO, BYD, Geely factories

Product — Alpha

Educational humanoid robot

Product — Cruzr

Service humanoid for commercial applications

Data & sources

Press releases

1

News coverage

1

Web sources

8

10 sources backing this record.View all →

Current platform

Walker S1

UBTech Robotics' Walker S1 industrial humanoid, deployed for factory tasks (final assembly, quality inspection, parcel handling, sorting) at automotive plants including Zeekr (Ningbo) and BYD (Shenzhen). Part of UBTech's Walker S industrial line, positioned before the Walker S2. Distinct from the consumer UWORLD U1.

humanoidView model →

Current platform

UBTech U1

Shenzhen-based humanoid robotics company and the world's first publicly traded humanoid robot-maker (HKEX: 9880). Founded by Zhou Jian (Chairman & CEO), UBTECH develops the Walker series humanoid robots and U1 bionic companion robots. Secured USB credit line from Hong Kong bank. Listed December 29, 2024. Products include Walker S (industrial humanoid), U1 (consumer bionic), and Panda Robot Youyou.

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Current platform

UWORLD U1

UBTech's consumer companion humanoid robot line, launched June 30, 2026. Three variants: U1 Lite (semi-torso), U1 Pro (full-body), U1 Ultra (high-dynamic). Features 88 degrees of freedom, emotion-aware LLM with 90%+ recognition of 20+ emotions, biomimetic skin, and 500ms response. Pricing from 119,800 RMB (~$16,500) to 990,000 RMB (~$145,000). 13,361+ cumulative orders as of launch; mass production target 10,000+ units in 2026 with delivery starting September 16.

humanoidView model →

Current platform

Walker S Lite

UBTech Walker S Lite, a humanoid-robot variant used in industrial trials including the August 2024 Zeekr Ningbo cargo-securing trial - billed as China's first humanoid robot to perform factory cargo-securing.

humanoidView model →

Current platform

Walker S2

UBTech's flagship industrial bipedal humanoid, designed for smart manufacturing, logistics, and factory automation. Notable for a self-service battery-swap capability enabling near-continuous (reported 24-hour) operation. Reported production milestone of its 1,000th unit at UBTech's Liuzhou facility.

humanoidView model →

Relationships

Explainers

Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about UBTech Robotics, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.

What is the best humanoid robot to buy in 2026?
There is no single best humanoid robot in 2026; the right pick depends on which of the five availability tiers matches your use case. For consumer home use, 1X NEO is the only verified-available option ($20,000 outright or $499/month subscription with a six-month minimum; late-2026 US delivery). For research and developer access, the Unitree G1 is the practical choice. For warehouse and factory pilots, Agility Digit, Apptronik Apollo, and Figure 03 are the platforms with documented commercial deployments. For elite R&D, Boston Dynamics Atlas remains the dynamic-motion benchmark. Tesla Optimus remains consumer-promised but not for sale.Read the full explainer →
Who are the leading humanoid robot makers?
By active commercial deployment activity in 2026, the leading humanoid robot makers are Tesla (Optimus, factory pilots), Figure AI (02, BMW pilot), Agility Robotics (Digit, warehouse operators), Apptronik (Apollo, Mercedes-Benz pilot), 1X Technologies (Neo, consumer pre-launch), Boston Dynamics (Atlas, R&D), and Unitree Robotics (G1/H-series, research). A fast-growing Chinese cohort (UBTech, Xiaomi, XPeng, Fourier, EngineAI, and others) is shipping platforms at increasingly competitive price points.Read the full explainer →
Is Figure AI a Chinese company?
No. Figure AI is a US company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, founded in 2022 by American entrepreneur Brett Adcock. The confusion likely reflects the substantial Chinese humanoid-manufacturer presence in the broader category (Unitree, AgiBot, UBTech), but Figure AI is American.Read the full explainer →
Which humanoid robot makers are American, Chinese, or from other countries?
The major American humanoid makers are Figure AI (Sunnyvale CA), Apptronik (Austin TX), Tesla (Palo Alto CA / Austin TX), Boston Dynamics (Waltham MA; Hyundai-owned), and Agility Robotics (Salem OR). The major Chinese makers are Unitree Robotics (Hangzhou), AgiBot (Shanghai), UBTech (Shenzhen), Fourier Intelligence (Shanghai), XPeng Robotics (Guangzhou), and several others. 1X Technologies operates a Norwegian-American structure (Moss Norway HQ plus Hayward California factory). Mentee Robotics is Israeli (acquired by Mobileye January 2026). Sanctuary AI is Canadian (Vancouver).Read the full explainer →
What is UBTech Walker S2 and is UBTech a real humanoid company?
UBTech Robotics is a publicly-traded Chinese humanoid manufacturer headquartered in Shenzhen, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Walker S2 is the company's industrial-focused humanoid platform deployed in factory pilots with BYD, Geely, Foxconn, and other manufacturing customers. UBTech is real, with verified commercial pilots; the company distinguishes itself from the US private humanoid cohort by being publicly listed with disclosed financial state.Read the full explainer →
Which humanoid robot manufacturers can I invest in?
Direct equity exposure to humanoid manufacturers in 2026 is mostly limited to a small set of publicly-traded companies: UBTech Robotics (HKEX-listed Chinese maker), Tesla (NASDAQ; Optimus is one product), and Hyundai Motor Group (KRX; Boston Dynamics parent). The major US humanoid pure-plays (Figure AI, 1X Technologies, Apptronik, Agility Robotics, Sanctuary AI) are privately held and accessible only via venture-stage or accredited-investor channels. Mentee Robotics was acquired by Mobileye in January 2026. DEPLOY is not an investment advisor; this guide documents verification posture, not investment advice.Read the full explainer →
Show 4 more explainers
What can humanoid robots actually do today?
Humanoid robot capability in 2026 sorts into four verification tiers per DEPLOY's framework. Verified consumer-deployed: 1X NEO performs laundry, organizing, and light manipulation in customer homes with explicit teleop disclosure. Verified enterprise-deployed: Figure 03, Apptronik Apollo, Agility Digit, and UBTech Walker S2 perform manufacturing and logistics tasks at Fortune-500 customer facilities. Research and demonstration: Boston Dynamics Atlas, Tesla Optimus, and Unitree platforms show capability footage but do not deploy. Claimed future: cooking, autonomous home assistance, childcare, and general-purpose household work remain claimed across the cohort but not consumer-deployed.Read the full explainer →
What is Fourier Intelligence and the GR-3 humanoid?
Fourier Intelligence is a Chinese humanoid robotics company headquartered in Shanghai with distinctive technical heritage in lower-limb exoskeleton and rehabilitation robotics. The GR-3 is the company's third-generation general-purpose humanoid platform, evolved from the GR-1 and GR-2 predecessors. Fourier occupies a distinctive position in the Chinese humanoid cohort: medical and rehabilitation engineering heritage transitioning to general-purpose humanoid product, with research-platform commercial positioning rather than the factory-deployment focus of UBTech Walker S2 or the research-tools pricing of Unitree G1 and R1.Read the full explainer →
What's the difference between a humanoid robot and an industrial robot?
Humanoid robots are bipedal robots with arms, hands, and roughly human-like proportions designed to operate in human environments and perform general-purpose tasks (Tesla Optimus, 1X NEO, Figure 03, Apptronik Apollo, Boston Dynamics Atlas, Unitree G1). Industrial robots are fixed-base manipulator arms designed for specific factory-automation tasks at high precision and reliability (FANUC, Universal Robots, KUKA, ABB). The categories share the word 'robot' but operate at substantively different scales (industrial robotics is a mature commercial category with hundreds of thousands of installed units; humanoid robotics is an emerging category with consumer-deployment at single-manufacturer scale).Read the full explainer →
What is Figure's Catalyst Brands Reno humanoid deployment?
The Figure 03 humanoid is deployed at Catalyst Brands' Reno, Nevada distribution logistics center in a pilot operation that represents Figure AI's verified non-manufacturing deployment context. Catalyst Brands is the corporate parent of Forever 21, Brooks Brothers, Aeropostale, Lucky Brand, Nautica, and other retail brands under the SPARC Group restructuring. The Reno deployment is Figure's logistics-and-distribution operational reference, complementing the Figure 02 BMW Spartanburg manufacturing reference and demonstrating Figure's dual-vertical commercial strategy across two structurally distinct deployment contexts.Read the full explainer →

Current leadership (5)

  • Zhou Jian Founder, Chairman & CEO, Founder, CEOsecondary-verified
  • Tan Min Chief Brand Officersecondary-verified
  • James Zhou Founder & CEOreported, not verified
  • Xiong Youjun Co-founder & CTOsecondary-verified
  • Lei Xiao CEO, UBTECH Roboticssecondary-verified

Founders (5)

See all founders across the registry →

Board (11)

Safety record

No incidents on record for UBTech Robotics.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →

Operator customers (5)

Brains developed (1)

Recent coverage

UBTech Robotics in third-party press

Peer companies