Haier HIVA Haiwa — Specs, Price & Where to Buy (2026)

What is the Hiva Haier?

The Haier HIVA Haiwa is a full-sized wheeled humanoid robot developed by Chinese appliance giant Haier, headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong. Featuring 44 degrees of freedom—12 in each five-fingered hand—it is designed for domestic home service tasks such as laundry folding, cooking, and cleaning. Unveiled in July 2025 as a ‘housework terminator,’ the Haiwa stands 165 cm tall and weighs 70 kg, moving on a wheeled base at up to 4 km/h. It runs a Linux-based ROS environment and can integrate external LLMs for natural language interaction. While still a prototype, it represents Haier’s ambitious entry into the humanoid robotics market, targeting future smart home deployment.

Specifications

Here are the full technical specifications.

Price & Value

New MSRP: ~$80,000 (estimated, prototype)

Used range: N/A

The HIVA Haiwa’s estimated $80,000 price tag places it in the emerging mid‑range of full‑size humanoid robots, competitive with prototypes like the UBTECH Walker S (~$100,000) but far below high‑end platforms like Boston Dynamics Atlas (priced in the hundreds of thousands). For a home service robot with 12‑DOF hands and a wheeled base, this figure reflects Haier’s consumer‑electronics scale ambition but remains speculative — no official price has been confirmed. As a prototype, depreciation and total cost of ownership are irrelevant; production economics would influence final pricing. If Haier leverages its manufacturing muscle, the Haiwa could become one of the most affordable dexterous humanoids on the market, though buyers should temper expectations until a commercial release date is set.

Who Is It For?

Best for: - Homeowners and tech enthusiasts exploring domestic service robots for laundry, cooking, and cleaning tasks (12‑DOF hands enable fine manipulation).

Not for: - Businesses needing an immediately available solution — the HIVA Haiwa is a prototype with no release date.

Alternatives & Comparison

The HIVA Haiwa enters a competitive field of humanoids aimed at home and light industrial service. Key rivals include the UBTECH Walker S (enterprise‑focused), the Fourier GR‑2 (industrial‑grade), and the affordable Unitree G1.

Verdict: If dexterous household manipulation is your priority, the HIVA Haiwa’s 12‑DOF hands and wheeled stability offer a compelling argument — but only if and when it reaches production. The UBTECH Walker S is the nearest commercially viable alternative for organizations willing to pay more for a bipedal platform, while the Unitree G1 drastically undercuts on price but cannot match the Haiwa’s manipulation potential. For now, wait for further announcements from Haier.

Use Cases & Capabilities

Household Chores

The HIVA Haiwa is engineered to take over repetitive household tasks like folding laundry, loading a dishwasher, and wiping surfaces. Its 44 DOF and five‑fingered hands with 12 joints per hand provide the dexterity to handle fabric and delicate items. The wheeled base eliminates balance concerns, allowing sustained operation on hard floors. Current limitations include a 1‑hour battery life, which would require frequent docking during a day of chores, but future iterations may improve endurance.

Elderly Assistance & Companionship

With embedded voice AI and potential LLM integration, the Haiwa can serve as an attentive companion for the elderly, reminding them of medication schedules, reading stories, or making video calls. The camera and microphone array enable remote monitoring by family members. However, the robot’s 8 kg payload is not suited for lifting a person, so it would function as a cognitive rather than physical aid. Safety features and an IP20 rating suggest it is intended for indoor, dry environments only.

Smart Home Integration

Haier’s background in smart appliances positions the Haiwa as a hub for IoT ecosystems. It can interact with connected refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners, coordinating chores like starting a wash cycle or adjusting the thermostat. The Bluetooth & Wi‑Fi connectivity and ROS‑based OS allow integration with existing home automation platforms. Developers could extend functionality, though as a prototype, the software stack is not yet public.

History & Background

Haier, founded in 1984 and headquartered in Qingdao, China, is best known as the world’s largest home appliance brand. In July 2025, Haier surprised the robotics community by unveiling the HIVA Haiwa, a full‑sized wheeled humanoid designed for domestic chores, at a major tech event. The robot, nicknamed the ‘housework terminator,’ marked the company’s first foray into general‑purpose humanoid robotics. While a single prototype has been demonstrated, no subsequent generations or variants have been announced. As of 2026, the HIVA Haiwa remains in development, with Haier indicating a possible commercial launch in the future, but no firm timeline has been shared.

Buying Used — What to Check

Verify robot’s provenance As a prototype, only a handful of units may exist; ensure any offered unit is genuine and not a non‑functional mock‑up.

Check battery health With only a 1‑hour runtime, a degraded battery would make the robot almost unusable for extended tasks.

Confirm software stack Prototype units may lack the final OS and LLM integration, limiting out‑of‑the‑box functionality.