Head to head
Sophia vs UBTech U1
Sophia (Hanson Robotics, no public price) against UBTech U1 (UBTech Robotics, from $17,650), side by side on price, realism, specifications and availability.
The short version
- UBTech U1 scores higher on our Realism Index: 60/100 to Sophia's 40. The widest gap is motion (50 vs 6).
- UBTech U1 has a public price ($17,650); Sophia doesn't.
- Sophia is still a concept; UBTech U1 is on preorder.
Composed from the two directory records, so it updates when they do.
Sophia40/100
UBTech U160/100
Realism Index sub-scores — six weighted dimensions built from public evidence. How we score
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Concept | Pre-order |
| Type | Humanoid | Companion |
| Form | Torso | Full body |
| Presents as | Female-presenting | Male- or female-presenting |
| Price | Not sold to consumers — a research and exhibition platform. The desktop Little Sophia retails around $149. | U1 Lite (semi-torso) from ¥119,800 (~$17,650); full-body U1 Pro ¥169,800 (~$25,000); high-dynamic U1 Ultra up to ¥990,000 (~$146,500). Adults only. |
| Subscription | — | — |
| Availability | Operational since 2016 | Preorder · deliveries claimed, no unit count |
| Origin | Hong Kong | China |
| Realism index | 40/100 | 60/100 |
| Height | ~167 cm · 5 ft 6 in (with legs; usually shown as a torso on a base) | Male 183 cm (6 ft 0 in) · Female 168 cm (5 ft 6 in) |
| Weight | — | Male 42 kg · Female 35.2 kg |
| Skin & materials | Frubber face and neck; transparent rear skull; decorative body | Proprietary biomimetic silicone skin; realistic hair; expressive face |
| Actuation | 30+ motors in the head and face | 88 degrees of freedom; dual-pivot biomimetic neck; claims ~90% of basic human motion |
| Power | — | Onboard rechargeable battery |
| Runtime | — | ~2–4 hours per charge |
| AI & conversation | Hybrid — scripted dialogue, a chatbot, OpenCog reasoning and LLMs; neural-net face and emotion recognition | Emotion-aware 'fast-and-slow' brain (100B+ params); ~500 ms reflexive response; 'Agent Memory OS' |
| Voice | Synthesised speech; primarily English | Conversational; speech-to-lip sync within ~20 ms |
| Mobility | Very limited — static or wheeled; a legged variant has been demoed but barely walks | Bipedal — walks, sits, stands on flat indoor floors; no stairs or rough terrain |
| Expressions | 60+ facial expressions; gaze tracking | Reads 20+ emotions from face, tone and speech (>90% claimed); adaptive expression |
| Languages | Primarily English; multilingual demos | Mandarin at launch; others undisclosed |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi; cameras in the eyes and chest | Wi-Fi; head-mounted cameras; encrypted memory stored on-device (Rockchip RK3588) |