Redazione RHC : 15 August 2025 08:58
While the rise of robots in China, the world’s largest market and producer of robots, is attracting the attention of the global information technology (IT) industry, the emergence of a “girlfriend robot” is causing a stir. This small robot, modeled after a young woman, can sing and dance like a girl group and even engage in emotional exchanges. It was recently sold for around 2 million won at an auction (about 2,000 euros).
According to Chinese media such as Kwai Technology, Shanghai-based robotics company Lingdong Robotics recently launched its first robotic product, the humanoid robot “NIA-F01” (Chinese name: “Nian”), priced at 9,999 yuan (about 1,500 euros).
“Nian” is a 56 cm tall desktop robot with the appearance of a slender young woman. Equipped with sight, hearing, and touch, it can perceive the user’s words and facial expressions, enabling emotional communication. The robot’s surface is covered with a silicone material that feels very similar to skin, while its skeleton is divided into a total of 34 joints, allowing it to move its body freely.
A noteworthy feature is that users can “customize” the character of the robot they want. Through a self-developed chassis, users can change its face, hairstyle, clothing, etc. according to their tastes, and can also enhance it by inserting a human voice, speech, movements, personality, etc. Users can create a “personalized girlfriend robot” based on their tastes.
Lingdong Robot introduced “Nian” as “the world’s first personalized desktop robot with artificial intelligence.” In addition, at the “World Robot Conference (WRC) 2025,” held in Beijing from the 8th to the 12th, it also unveiled the “world’s first robot girlfriend group,” in which several “Nian” learned group songs and dances and performed them directly.
Lingdong Robot attracted attention again when it put “Nian” up for auction on a platform. Lingdong Robot had set the minimum bid at 1 won, but “Nian” was sold at auction that day for 15,800 yuan (about 2 million won), exceeding the selling price (9,999 yuan).
Local media reported that the emergence of a “robot girlfriend” is a mixed bag of anticipation and skepticism in the Chinese IT industry.
Chinese media and technology blogs have high expectations for the future of robotics, considering that not only robots that replace human tasks, such as those for customer service and cooking, but also those capable of responding to users’ emotional needs, such as companion robots and friend robots, could represent a major innovation in the field of robotics.
Chinese blogs and online publications focus on the future potential of robots that go beyond simply replacing humans in work tasks, also considering those capable of emotional interaction, such as friend robots and companion robots, which could profoundly renew the robotics landscape.
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