UBTech adds a Gulf government partner with a regulatory sandbox to an overseas push that brought more than RMB50 million in recent orders from Europe, Japan and South Korea.
UBTech, the Shenzhen-based humanoid robot maker, has agreed to test and demonstrate its robots in Ras Al Khaimah under a memorandum of understanding signed on October 19 with the International Relations Office of the emirate’s government. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah and a member of the UAE Supreme Council, watched the signing in Shenzhen. The terms come from a press release the government issued through PR Newswire, in an English release and a Chinese version carried by Sina Finance.
Under the memorandum, UBTech will send humanoid robots and engineering teams to the emirate for live demonstration projects, while Ras Al Khaimah offers a testing sandbox and what the release calls progressive regulatory frameworks linking research institutions with industry. The two sides will also study whether to set up a Ras Al Khaimah Humanoid Robotics Climate Research Initiative, which would use local environmental and operating conditions to check how the robots perform in the UAE and the wider Gulf. No independent outlet had reported the signing by October 20, so every detail of the deal rests on the parties’ own account.
The agreement adds a Gulf government to a growing list of UBTech partners abroad. Gasgoo reported in September that the company had won more than RMB50 million in recent overseas orders from buyers in Europe, Japan and South Korea, and had signed memorandums with Singtel and with the government of Kazakhstan.
The signing opened a week of Ras Al Khaimah meetings in southern China
Alma Au Yeung, Greater China Affairs Advisor at the Office of the Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, signed for the government, and Claudia Chen, UBTech’s overseas sales director, signed for the company. UBTech chief financial officer Jimmy Zhang and Mohammad Abdulrahman Alhawi, undersecretary at the UAE Ministry of Investment, also attended, according to the release. "This collaboration represents a meaningful step forward in Ras Al Khaimah’s journey toward a knowledge-based economy," Au Yeung said. Chen said: "It is a privilege to formalize our partnership with the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah."
The signing marked the start of a week-long official visit across southern China focused on technology, investment, innovation and trade. On the same day the emirate held a Ras Al Khaimah-China Business Summit in Shenzhen that drew nearly 300 business leaders, officials and investors, The National reported, citing the state news agency WAM. The summit targeted advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, digital technology, renewable energy and logistics, and the emirate already hosts more than 400 Chinese companies. "We are building an economy that is resilient, diversified and integrated into global supply chains," Sheikh Saud said.
The memorandum sets out uses and roles but no numbers
The UBTech memorandum lists automated industrial assembly, public-facing services, AI-assisted elder care and cultural tourism sites as its first applications. The memorandum names no robot models, unit numbers, contract value or timetable, and neither side disclosed any payment. The climate initiative itself is at the feasibility stage: the release says the work would generate performance data in demanding environments, without describing the tests.
That leaves the deal well short of UBTech’s more specific recent agreements. Earlier this month UBTech and Xiamen C&D set a goal of 10,000 robots by 2030 through a planned joint venture. On October 19, Tokyo-listed Bitcoin Japan announced that it had become UBTech’s exclusive distributor in Japan for six product lines, including the Walker S2 and Walker C1, for 36 months from the Walker C1’s certification there.
The commercial scale behind these deals has grown quickly. UBTech’s revenue roughly doubled to RMB1.27 billion in the first half of 2026, and it sold 921 full-size humanoid robots, which brought in RMB590 million, Gasgoo reported. The company still posted a net loss of RMB339 million for the period.
UBTech’s UAE ties go back to classroom robots
UBTech has worked in the UAE before. In 2019, Yicai Global reported a US$362.4 million agreement with Royal Strategic Partners, a unit of Abu Dhabi Capital Group, to build AI teaching labs in 1,310 schools across all seven emirates over four years. In September 2025, TechNode reported a US$1 billion financing agreement with Infini Capital that included plans for a Middle East joint venture with a large factory, a research center and a regional headquarters in the UAE and other locations.
The Ras Al Khaimah memorandum does not mention that joint venture, and no link between the two has been disclosed. The next marker is the first deployment: the arrival of named UBTech models and engineering teams in the emirate, or a decision to launch the climate research initiative, would show the memorandum turning into paid work.