🏠 What Is the 1X NEO?
NEO is a bipedal humanoid robot built specifically to live in your home. Unlike the industrial robots you see on factory floors, NEO was designed from the ground up to coexist with humans — in living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms. It's quiet (quieter than a modern refrigerator), soft to the touch thanks to a deformable 3D lattice cushion, and moves using tendon-driven actuators that mimic smooth, human-like motion.
The philosophy behind NEO is straightforward: it handles the boring stuff so you can focus on what you love. Cleaning the bathroom, doing the dishes, tidying up — those are its jobs. Yours is to go live your life.
🇳🇴 The Company: 1X Technologies
1X Technologies (formerly Halodi Robotics) was founded in 2014 by Norwegian roboticist Bernt Øyvind Børnich. Originally based in Norway, the company now has its headquarters in Palo Alto, California, with manufacturing facilities in Hayward, CA and Moss, Norway.
The company started by developing safe actuators and full-body control systems. In 2018, it released its first robot — EVE, a wheeled humanoid designed for logistics, security, and healthcare. EVE was deployed at customer facilities worldwide and became the data foundation for the machine intelligence that would later power NEO.
The pivotal moment came in 2022, when the company rebranded as 1X Technologies and shifted decisively toward domestic robotics. The rationale? To develop true machine intelligence, robots need to live and learn alongside the people they serve.
💰 Pricing and Sales Model
1X has taken an unusual approach to selling a robot. They offer two options:
📊 NEO Purchase Options
At $20,000, NEO sits on the premium end compared to the Unitree G1 ($13,500) but well below the estimated $30,000+ for Tesla's Optimus. The subscription model is particularly interesting — you're essentially renting a robot assistant instead of buying one.
🧠 Redwood AI: NEO's Brain
What truly sets NEO apart isn't the hardware — it's the AI. 1X developed a proprietary AI system called Redwood AI, which represents the current cutting edge in VLA (Vision-Language-Action) models.
At the core of Redwood sits the 1X World Model — a physics-grounded video model that can predict the outcomes of NEO's actions before they're executed in the real world. Essentially, the robot “imagines” what will happen if it makes a particular move — and only acts if the predicted outcome checks out. This translates to safer, more precise behavior.
Redwood is trained using both Reinforcement Learning (learning through trial and error) and imitation learning (learning by watching humans). Notably, it learns from both SUCCESSES and FAILURES — something rare in today's robotic systems.
One crucial capability: Redwood controls locomotion and manipulation SIMULTANEOUSLY. This means NEO can brace itself or lean while grabbing something — exactly like a human would. Most robots handle the two separately, resulting in awkward, disjointed movements.
🏡 What Does It Actually Do at Home?
According to 1X, you can give NEO a list of chores, schedule when you want them done, and come back to a cleaner home. Current capabilities include:
- Bathroom cleaning: Wiping surfaces, organizing towels, general tidying
- Dish duty: Moving dishes from sink to drying rack
- General tidying: Picking up items, sorting, organizing
- Kitchen help: Light tasks, moving objects around
- Conversation: Questions, recipes, jokes, information — built-in language model
- Mobility: Walking, sitting, kneeling, climbing stairs
Expert Mode: The Hidden Detail
Here's where things get interesting — and a little controversial. For chores NEO hasn't learned yet, 1X offers an "Expert Mode": you schedule a session and a 1X operator takes over remotely, using a VR headset to teleoperate the robot. In the process, NEO learns from the experience.
The Teleoperation Reality
- Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2025 that many tasks were still being performed via teleoperation
- CEO Bernt Børnich acknowledged that early adopter data is needed to improve the robot's autonomy
- Privacy concerns arise — a remote operator effectively “sees” the inside of your home through the robot
🔧 Design: Scandinavian Aesthetics
NEO looks like no other robot on the market. While Tesla, Figure AI, and Unitree build machines with exposed mechanical structures, 1X literally dressed NEO in knit fabric. The aesthetic is deliberately Scandinavian — warm, minimalist, “cozy.” It comes in tan, gray, and dark brown.
Beneath the fabric, a deformable 3D lattice wraps the internal components, acting as a protective cushion. This means if you accidentally bump into NEO — or if it bumps into you — it won't hurt. The tendon-driven actuators, inspired by human tendons, produce gentle, natural movements without the jerky reactions of traditional servos.
At the core sits the Revo1 motor — the world's highest torque-to-weight ratio servo motor, according to 1X. Revo1 was designed specifically for low gear-ratio robotics, ideal for flexible, compliant mechanisms.
📈 Funding and Backing
1X isn't a fly-by-night startup. It has serious investors behind it:
- Series A2 (March 2023): $23.5 million — led by the OpenAI Startup Fund, with Tiger Global, Sandwater, Alliance Ventures
- Series B (January 2024): $100 million — led by EQT Ventures, with Samsung NEXT, Nistad Group
- Series C (September 2025): Targeting $1 billion in new funding, per The Information
OpenAI's involvement is no coincidence. In an era where artificial intelligence is seeking ways to interact with the physical world, a home robot is the perfect testing ground. The data NEO collects inside real homes will be invaluable for training future AI models.
📅 Development Timeline
📊 The 1X NEO Journey
⚠️ Criticism and Concerns
Despite the impressive design and strong backing, NEO faces legitimate skepticism:
- Autonomy is questionable: The company admits that many tasks still require human teleoperation. How “autonomous” is it really?
- Privacy: A robot with cameras and microphones inside your home, capable of remote control, raises serious concerns
- $20,000 price tag: For a robot still learning basic chores, that's a significant investment
- US only: Initially available only in the United States — Europe will have to wait
- Competition: Tesla, Figure AI, Unitree — everyone is eyeing the same prize: the home
"Building a world where we do more of what we love, while our humanoid companions handle the rest."
🔮 Is It Worth It? An Honest Assessment
Let's be realistic. As of February 2026, no humanoid home robot replaces a housekeeper. Not NEO, not any other. The technology is in its infancy.
What makes NEO special isn't what it can do today — it's the PHILOSOPHY behind it. 1X didn't build an industrial robot and repurpose it for the home. They designed something from scratch for domestic life: soft, quiet, friendly, wrapped in knitwear instead of metal exoskeletons. And behind it stands an AI platform (Redwood) that improves every day, learning from every home it enters.
If you're a tech early adopter with $20,000 to spare and live in the US — it's a fascinating experiment. If you're expecting real household help, give it another 2-3 years. 1X themselves say it: “NEO learns and unlocks new capabilities with use.” That means early buyers are essentially beta testers — with a $20,000 admission ticket.