Having a robot housekeeper like Rosie from The Jetsons cartoon isn’t all that far-fetched. In fact, it’s becoming a reality — but with a few caveats.
NEO is a humanoid robot designed to take on daily chores like taking out the trash, tidying rooms and offer personalized assistance. It was created by 1X, an artificial intelligence and robotics company based in Palo Alto, Calif.
On Oct. 28, the company announced that the robot is now available for preorder from 1X.
The company website states, “We believe that to truly understand the world and grow in intelligence, humanoid robots must live and learn alongside us. That’s why we’re focused on developing NEO — our flagship product — a friendly home robot designed to integrate seamlessly into everyday life and handle chores for you.”
Here’s what else we know so far about NEO, the humanoid robot.
What are NEO’s specs?
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“NEO was engineered from the ground up for safety,” said Dar Sleeper, the company’s vice president of product and design.
The humanoid robot is 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 66 lbs. NEO’s internal components are wrapped in “deformable 3D lattice polymer,” making the robot soft, and has “tendon-driven actuators” so it can make safe movements. NEO is also quieter than a modern refrigerator, the company says.
NEO can lift up to 154 lbs. and can carry 55 lbs. It has a 4-hour battery life and is capable of charging itself.
The robot also has four microphones, three speakers and fish-eye cameras for vision. If you’re away from home, you can open up the NEO app and see what the robot is up to from its point of view.
NEO comes with a machine-washable suit, customizable shoes and is available in tan, gray and dark brown.
What are NEO’s capabilities?
NEO
When NEO arrives at a person’s home, it will be capable of performing basic tasks autonomously when the owner speaks to it or enables it through the app, like opening doors, turning lights on and off and fetching items.
Its audio intelligence can also pick up on whether the owner is addressing it or someone else in the room in order for it to decide if it should respond or not.
According to 1X, the robot’s autonomy will get better as it completes more tasks and gains experience.
“NEO is a speech-enabled AI companion made for any kind of conversation,” said Eric Jang, the company’s vice president of artificial intelligence. “Where other AI assistants are confined to your phone or computer, NEO lives with you in your physical space and has the ability to see, hear and remember things by your surrounding environment to provide you with uniquely helpful assistance.”
For example, NEO can take a look in your refrigerator and suggest what to cook based on what ingredients you have. Or if you’re learning a new language from NEO, it can remember your progress, or even give home interior design advice.
What are NEO’s limitations?
NEO is not fully autonomous yet. “NEO’s autonomy improves with diverse data and real-world experience,” Jang explained. “As NEO does more chores, you will receive updates to your Redwood model that will increase the complexity of tasks that NEO can handle, such as finding your keys and wallet or doing a full laundry cycle end to end.”
For now, that means more complex chores will still require a human teleoperator to see inside a person’s home in order to teach NEO to complete tasks until the robot knows how to do them. That of course brings up concerns of the owners sacrificing privacy if a 1X employee can see into someone’s home through the eyes of the robot.
“If you buy this product, it is because you’re OK with that social contract,” Bernt Børnich, 1X CEO, told the Wall Street Journal. “If we don’t have your data, we can’t make the product better,” he said, adding that the company is putting control in the hands of the owner to respect their privacy as much as possible.
Owners can specify when they want a teleoperator to take over, and when they want the robot to do the task. Teleoperators have to get the owner’s approval before taking control of NEO. The company can also blur people in the home so the teleoperator isn’t able to see them when assisting the robot with tasks. Owners can also designate specific zones where NEO should remain off limits.
Then there’s concerns of a potential security or safety breach from a NEO robot. Børnich says that there are several layers of security to prevent the robot from causing harm to anyone.
And with NEO being a piece of advanced modern technology, there’s always concerns about data collection. 1X says NEO will collect data from the real world tasks it performs to improve its capabilities and safety. “We do not use this data to build a profile for you, nor do we sell this data,” the company states on its website.
How can you order a NEO humanoid robot?
People can preorder NEO on the 1X website with a $200 deposit.
For those who want early access to NEO, the robot has a $20,000 price tag, which comes with priority delivery, premium support and ownership with a three-year warranty. For the standard rollout, NEO will be offered as a subscription service for $499 per month.
NEO starts shipping in the U.S. starting in 2026, with a broader rollout in 2027.
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