- 1X unveils Neo Home Robot
- It costs $20,000 and can do a lot of homework for you
- On pre-order now, it’s coming in 2026
The dream or nightmare of a humanoid home robot is getting closer to reality. The 1X Neo Home robot, a cleaning, dancing, listening, talking and potentially helpful home assistant, is now on pre-order, ready to march into your home and even plug itself into an outlet when needed.
A little more than a year after the unveiling of the Neo Beta, and nine months after the launch of the Neo Gamma, 1X introduced its Neo Home Robot.
Visually, Neo has come a long way—from the slightly creepy, perhaps too gripping Neo Beta (they showed it with a clenched arm draped over a female companion)—to the Neo Home robot, a soft fabric-covered, gentle-faced (though mouthless), 5-foot, 6-inch, 66-lb automaton.
It wears soft, stylish sneakers that would be at home on the feet of any All Birds sneaker fan. On the head are a pair of circular LED lights that help indicate the robot’s intention. But it could also do that by talking to you.
According to the 1X and the launch video, the Neo Home Robot can hear through its four built-in microphones and speak through its three speakers. It runs a custom Redwood AI powered by Nvidia silicon. According to 1X, Redwood AI is “a vision-language transformer tailored to the humanoid form factor and capable of performing end-to-end mobile manipulation tasks such as retrieving objects for users, opening doors, and navigating around the home.”
In other words, it’s an AI algorithm custom-built for the home.
Look at
As depicted in the video, Neo Home robot can perform various maintenance tasks or chores around the home. Washing clothes, emptying the dishwasher and vacuuming floors is shown. There are things it can’t do, like mowing the lawn; the robot is not intended for outdoor use. It can’t cook (yet). The rubberized, articulated hands are waterproof, but the rest of the washable, cloth-covered body is not.
In the FAQ, 1X jokes, “Should your NEO get wet, an order will automatically be placed for a child-sized plastic swimming pool and 100 kg of Basmati rice*. * Not really, but please don’t get your NEO wet.”
Very smart, 1X.
But the robot, which is due to arrive in homes in 2026, costs some serious money. You can pay $20,000 outright or sign up for a subscription fee of $499 per month. It is not a payment plan. You simply pay until you want to return the robot.
The California-based 1X promises autonomous operation by using AI to analyze its environment and engage in conversations that include, in a launch video scene, helping you find your lost glasses (they hang from your shirt, of course!).
But for all these household chores, you use the app. “For scheduled or recurring tasks, users can use the 1X mobile app to schedule Neo’s household chores,” notes the FAQ. The Neo connects to the Internet via 5G or Wi-Fi, although the 1X recommends Wi-Fi.
Not all tasks or assignments are covered and for new ones, you may need 1X’s assistance. The company can, upon request, have an X1 employee tap into your Neo Home robot and guide it through the task, basically training it for the next time (they promise not to save any of the personal data collected during the training process). At least it can handle stairs, but the 1X only mentions going up stairs and not down. I wonder if you will have to carry it back to ground level.
The robot is expected to run for four hours on a charge, and when the power runs low, it can switch to a regular outlet and plug itself in (if only we could do the same).
As for safety, 1X depicts the robot interacting and dancing with its owners, but I noticed that there are no longer videos of it touching humans.
“Security has guided every step of NEO’s design to ensure it can work among humans,” 1X writes in the FAQ. “This includes a host of passive and active safety features. NEO should only be used as intended. Users should remain alert during operation and should always follow product safety instructions and guidelines when operating NEO, especially when in the presence of children, vulnerable people or pets.”
Aside from the warnings about children and pets, the comments about staying alert during operation are notable because the video clearly states that you are leaving your home during the Neo Home Robot’s cleaning activities. It’s not clear what happens if the robot gets stuck, falls or accidentally knocks over something. The good news is that you can always connect via the app and see what the Neo sees through its dual 8MP fisheye camera eyes, although I imagine watching it do the chores you’ve been trying to avoid can get old pretty quickly.
This is far from the first homework robot we’ve heard about this year. A few weeks ago, Figure AI unveiled Figure 03, another home helper bot that likes to do laundry. Unlike the Neo Home Robot, figure 03 is not on the fast track to your home. Instead, the first Figure O3 release won’t even be ready for home use.
On the other hand, Figur AI might sit back in 2026 and see how well or poorly Neo does at home before unleashing its own humanoid home helper.
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