Company reports more than 10,000 orders and launches an initiative to donate 100 humanoid robots in support of mental well-being programs
SHENZHEN, China, July 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 30, 2026, UBTECH hosted its 2026 Global Launch Event in Shenzhen, where it introduced its long-term vision for human–robot symbiosis and officially unveiled the UWORLD U1 Series of full-size ultra-bionic humanoid robots, the first in the world designed for mass production. The lineup includes three models: the U1 Lite semi-torso edition, the high-performance full-body U1 Pro, and the high-dynamic full-body U1 Ultra, with pricing set from 119,800 RMB. As of the day of the launch event, cumulative orders for the UWORLD U1 Series had surpassed 13,361 units.
James Zhou, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and CEO of UBTECH, outlined the company's long-term vision for the evolution of human–robot collaboration. He described a three-stage progression: first, completing hazardous and repetitive work to free people from dangerous tasks; second, extending into everyday life through companionship and service applications; and ultimately, advancing toward increasingly seamless interaction between humans and intelligent robots.
Zhou said UBTECH is evolving beyond a traditional robotics manufacturer toward a platform company focused on AI-enabled robotics and intelligent infrastructure. He noted that the company has pursued a two-decade roadmap for growth. During the first phase (2012–2022), UBTECH focused on developing core technologies, helping bring humanoid robots from research laboratories into industrial deployment while building the company's commercial foundation. During the second phase (2023–2033), the company is expanding into consumer robotics with the goal of making humanoid robots part of everyday life. The year 2026 marks an important step in the evolution of UBTECH from industrial and commercial applications toward consumer adoption.
Backed by its self-developed full-stack humanoid robot technologies, broad application portfolio, and continued investment in innovation and talent, UBTECH has achieved multiple industry milestones. Building on its industrial robotics business, the company ranked 1st globally in revenue and sales volume from full-sized embodied intelligent humanoid robots in 2025, and launches UWORLD in 2026, extending its robotics portfolio into the consumer market.
Michael Tam, Chief Brand Officer of UBTECH, President of Consumer Robotics Innovation Business Group, and General Manager of UWORLD, said human-robot companionship represents a new approach to supporting mental well-being. He added that companion robots have the potential to become an important new consumer category by providing personalized emotional support throughout different stages of life. He cited projections that China's ultra-bionic humanoid robotics market could grow from the tens of billions of RMB to the trillion-RMB level between 2026 and 2036.
UWORLD integrates a fully proprietary end-to-end technology stack, including biomimetic skin, embodied intelligence hardware, operating systems, emotion-driven large language models (LLMs), and system-level manufacturing. This integrated architecture is designed to address long-standing challenges in the real-world deployment of humanoid robots.
The UWORLD U1 Series features 88 degrees of freedom and a proprietary dual-pivot biomimetic cervical spine, enabling it to replicate up to 90% of fundamental human movements. The system is powered by the world's first emotion-aware LLM designed for long-term companionship, capable of recognizing more than 20 fine-grained emotional states with an accuracy rate exceeding 90%.
Its biomimetic fast-and-slow brain architecture draws on cognitive neuroscience principles, enabling a 500-millisecond intuitive response system alongside deep reasoning capabilities powered by models with hundreds of billions of parameters. A biomimetic expression actuation system, driven by a proprietary controller, reduces speech-to-lip synchronization latency to within 20 milliseconds, creating a remarkably lifelike interaction experience.
The Agent Memory OS, a cross-temporal memory system, is designed to establish a persistent digital life framework. A proactive care engine uses environmental awareness to enable wake-word-free interaction, allowing UWORLD robots to respond naturally to contextual cues and social situations.
UWORLD also emphasizes the principle that users retain ownership of their data and has established a three-layer privacy architecture consisting of local-first processing, minimal cloud dependency, and user-controlled hardware safeguards. Combined with highly lifelike interaction capabilities and an end-to-end safety framework, the system enables humanoid robots to evolve from functional tools into emotionally responsive companions.
The U1 Series is designed to support a wide range of consumer and commercial applications, including daily companionship, emotional support, lifestyle enhancement, and social assistance, as well as reception and hospitality services, elder care, psychological support, tourism and exhibitions, research and education, and premium domestic service applications.
At the launch event, UWORLD introduced the "Human-Robot Companionship Initiative." China has more than 90 million adults living alone and 118 million empty-nest seniors, with an estimated 10% to 20% of individuals living alone meeting the clinical criteria for mental health disorders. In response, UWORLD announced plans to donate customized humanoid robots each year to support vulnerable groups, including children growing up apart from one or both parents, older adults living alone, and families facing difficult circumstances, with the goal of providing long-term emotional companionship and psychological support.
In 2026, UWORLD plans to donate 100 customized U1 Series humanoid robots. These units will incorporate 3D facial reconstruction and voiceprint-based identity replication technologies to recreate designated individuals, while integrating emotion-driven interaction models and dedicated long-term memory systems. Combined with multimodal situational awareness, the robots are designed to provide structured psychological support services.
With the launch of UWORLD, UBTECH has established a robotics portfolio spanning industrial, commercial and consumer applications. The industrial Walker S Series has already entered mass production and commenced deliveries, while UWORLD is expected to become the company's second growth engine as it brings humanoid robotics to consumer markets.
About UBTECH
Established in March 2012, UBTECH ROBOTICS CORP LTD is a leading humanoid robot and smart service robot company. Specialized in the research, development, and commercialization of intelligent service robots and AI-driven solutions, its product portfolio spans industrial humanoid robots (Walker series), AI Education, Smart Logistics, Commercial Service, and Consumer Service. Milestones include mass production of the Walker S2 humanoid robot and listing on the HKEX. UBTECH is committed to advancing embodied AI to build a smarter, more connected future.
For more information, please visit https://www.ubtrobot.com/en/
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UBTECH Launches UWORLD U1, the World's First Full-Size Mass-Produced Ultra-Bionic Humanoid Robot
UBTECH Launches UWORLD U1, the World's First Full-Size Mass-Produced Ultra-Bionic Humanoid Robot
UBTECH Launches UWORLD U1, the World's First Full-Size Mass-Produced Ultra-Bionic Humanoid Robot
SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Reallusion's 2026 3D Character Contest was held from June 1st to October 1st, 2026. Within 3 months, 200 submissions were submitted from 49 countries. The contest showcases the best 3D character design and animation created using Reallusion's powerful character production ecosystems: Character Creator for 3D character creation, iClone for facial and body animation, and AccuRIG for rigging.
"We at Reallusion are thrilled to watch so many world-class character artists integrate Character Creator and iClone into their professional workflows. This contest clearly demonstrated that Character Creator gives artists complete creative freedom to build original 3D characters in any style or genre. Huge congratulations to every participant. We are excited to keep pushing the boundaries of 3D innovation for the community!"
– Enoc Burgos, Reallusion Director of Partnership Marketing
Prizes Sponsored by Renowned Industry Leaders
The Contest was hosted by Reallusion and sponsored by industry leaders such as NVIDIA, Maxon, Epic Games, Unity, SideFX, Marvelous Designer, MSI, WD, and CenterGrid. Through this contest, Character Creator's extensive pipeline lets artists seamlessly integrate a new workflow for rapid creativity with zero sacrifice in character quality.
Meet Our Winners And Their Testimonials
The contest challenged artists to create stunning, original 3D characters that not only showcased their artistic abilities, but also demonstrated mastery of animation tools like Character Creator and iClone. After weeks of careful evaluation by our esteemed panel of judges, the following winners stood out for their exceptional work.
Watch winner video: https://youtu.be/zhGfrHHtT7Y
Realistic Character Design
Under this category, entrants create a realistic human character in Character Creator by combining the character base with tools like ZBrush, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer, Blender, Wrap, Texturing.xyz, and Maya. Watch their winning entry and testimonials below.
1st Place: Jax: Soul of the Street – by Jimmy Watelle, Manager | Costa Rica
"Character Creator and the Blender Data Link helped me a lot in building the base of the Jax character, but I also faced numerous challenges related to my skill level and navigating between software, sometimes losing data or synchronization along the way. This project brought me as much enjoyment, and it helped me grow tremendously." – Jimmy Watelle
View Jimmy's entry and WIP
2nd Place: Shannaz – by Leudemar "Leo" Lima, Concept Artist | Brazil
"Character Creator helped me bring my design to 3D with a lot of fidelity and realism; easy to use and intuitive, CC5 is a really powerful tool for concept artists." – Leudemar "Leo" Lima
View Leo's entry and WIP
3rd Place: An Unearthly Find – by Jeet Shah, Technical Artist | India
"The speed of CC5 in making changes to primary forms for any character is impeccable and probably the best among any 3D software I've ever used. Need a skinny short girl- tweak a few sliders you get a skinny short girl. Need a fat stubby creature- tweak some more sliders and take it to ZBrush and you have a humanoid creature in under an hour all the while maintaining the subdivided geometry details in CC5 thanks to GoZ Plus. And all of them with a full-body skeleton that's ready to add some controls for posing. The new HD morphs in CC5 are certainly an upgrade to the previous version, where the lack of base mesh resolution made the morphs a bit less detailed; the new ones still come out quite detailed. One other feature I've heavily used is the new addition to Auto Setup for Maya. That allowed for a seamless experience in making the facial expressions on the characters directly in Maya, where I rendered them."– Jeet Shah
View Jeet's entry and WIP
Stylized Character Design
Under this category, entrants create a stylized character in Character Creator by combining the character base with tools like ZBrush, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer, Blender, Wrap, Texturing.xyz, and Maya. Watch their winning entry and testimonials below.
1st Place: Kohaku - Warden of Memories – by Oscar Fernandez Gonzalez, 3D Character Artist | Spain
"As a sculptor, Character Creator lets me start from a clean, optimized base mesh that I can freely customize in ZBrush. Moving back and forth between ZBrush and CC5 allows me to use each application for what it does best, making the entire workflow faster and more efficient. My favorite feature is being able to test poses on the character with incredible precision. It's fast, intuitive, and a genuinely enjoyable part of the creative process." – Oscar Fernandez Gonzalez
View Oscar's entry and WIP
2nd Place: Erlen From Lemuria's Savage Lands – by Felix Enrique Yaguare Lopez, Student and Freelancer | Venezuela
"Character Creator allowed me to bring my character to life effortlessly. Being able to quickly test and iterate different poses gave me the freedom to explore Erlen in multiple situations, something that would have been impossible in my timeframe, as I joined the contest a month and a half late while finishing my class projects for Libel Academy." – Felix Enrique Yaguare Lopez
View Felix's entry and WIP
3rd Place: Alyssa – by Thivolan Moodley, 3D Sculptor & Freelancer | South Africa
"I was able to use the base mesh to really push the design from start to finish without needing to retopologize or change much else! This helped me focus on sculpting and likeness more!" – Thivolan Moodley
View Thivolan's entry and WIP
Realistic Character Animation
Use iClone to create a realistic animation for a character made with the CC3+ Base. The character model can be customized with Reallusion tools and content or third-party software like ZBrush, Blender, Unreal Engine. Watch their winning entry and testimonials below.
1st Place: Franco Colapino – by Off World, FCGI Cinematics Freelancer | Argentina
"Without Reallusion's tools, achieving this level of quality and ease of iteration in pursuing our goal would not have been possible; the power and creative freedom it provides are immense." – Off World
View Off World's entry and WIP
2nd Place: The Hunt – by Joseph Hoback, 3D | United States
"There's no way I could have gotten as far as I did without the use of an iClone. The mocap informed not only the timing and energy but also the character as a whole." – Joseph Hoback
View Joseph's entry and WIP
3rd Place: Special ops: Lioness – by Hector Mercado, CGI artist & Filmmaker | Dominican Republic
"The new Headshot 3 features, together with the AI-assisted reference image generation and cleanup, really help in getting the character likeness when trying to create a digital double!" – Hector Mercado
View Hector's entry and WIP
Stylized Character Animation
Under this category, contestants use iClone to create a stylized animation for a character made with the CC3+ Base. The character model can be customized with Reallusion tools and content or third-party software like ZBrush, Blender, Unreal Engine. Watch their winning entry and testimonials below.
1st Place: STONE GODZ – by Dazhi Benjamin Sokomba, Animator | Nigeria
"I used iClone for the final real-time render, Character Creator 5 for the main character and AccuRIG for the stone characters." – Dazhi Benjamin Sokomba
View Benjamin's entry and WIP
2nd Place: Moss Fairy – by Affan Shiekh, CGI artist | Pakistan
"Character Creator 5 is amazing. It gets better every year, and I would like more implementations for the Blender addon!" – Affan Shiekh
View Affan's entry and WIP
3rd Place: Max Mad Animation – by Soorena Sardarzadeh, CGI artist & Filmmaker | United States
"With iClone, making animation isn't harder than it needs to be." – Soorena Sardarzadeh
View Soorena's entry and WIP
Best AccuRIG Characters
Powered by AccuRIG, artists can transform static models into fully animatable characters, regardless of topology. The winning characters showcase high sculpting details with attractive poses and professional renders. Reallusion selected four winners from this category, and here are the winners, entries, and respective WIPs.
- Oscar Fernandez Gonzalez (Spain)
- Laura Antonacci (Italy)
- Carolyna Figueiredo (Portugal)
- Stasia Bubnova (Russian Federation)
Special Awards
Special Awards recognize outstanding achievement across specific technical and artistic categories. Beyond their distinctive visual aesthetics, these winning entries demonstrate a deep mastery of 3D pipelines and creative problem-solving techniques. Their entries present compelling character designs, solid anatomy, and exceptional composition. View all winning entries and WIPs.
Best Render
- Vanesa Arambašić (Croatia)
- Jacopo Filo della Torre (Italy)
- Bahar Tavakoli (Iran)
Best Pipeline Use
- David Sujono (Australia)
- Olivier Beguin (Switzerland)
- Ignacio Coronel (Argentina)
- Joachim Jensen (Denmark)
- Jorge Leonardo Ayala Arias (Colombia)
Best Mocap Use
- Sangkoo Lee (Republic of Korea)
Best Digital Double
- Mobin Hivehchi (Iran)
- Frederick Talavera Martinez (Spain)
Best Student Artwork
- Carlos Humberto Rivas Garcia (Venezuela)
Best Costume
- Eva Sophie Cringle (Belgium)
- Myron Mortakis (United States)
- Massimo De Antonis (Italy)
- Saillish (Australia)
- Weedi Masindraoka (Madagascar)
- Sadegh Khavand (Iran)
- Rafael S. Benedicto (Philippines)
- Angel Ricalde (Peru)
Honorable Mentions
Honorable Mentions celebrate standout entries that captivated the judging panel through exceptional dedication, skill, and creative vision. While not taking home a top placement, these artists delivered remarkable craft and passion throughout the competition. View all Honorable Mention entries and WIPs.
- Ariya Hasani (Iran)
- Markus Haertel (Brazil)
- Kurt Boutilier (Canada)
- Onur Erdurak (Turkey)
The judging process for the "2026 Reallusion 3D Character Contest" proved to be quite difficult and took many hours of deliberation. In addition to the top 3 placements in Best Character Animation & Best Character Design, Reallusion also selected 28 winners for AccuRIG characters, Special Awards, and Honorable Mentions. See the Winner Page for winner details and showcases, and we look forward to your entry submission next year!
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Reallusion's 2026 3D Character Contest - Meet the Winners!
