The robot stands 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighs as much as a golden retriever and costs about the price of a new budget car. this takethe Humanoid robots.
As a personal assistant you can talk to and ultimately rely on to handle daily tasks, Neo can load your dishwasher and fold your laundry.
But it doesn’t come cheap: it’ll cost you $20,000 And even then, you’ll still need to train this new home bot, and it’ll likely require remote assistance as well.
Check it out: You can now pre-order the AI humanoid household robot Neo
If that still sounds tempting, pre-orders are now open (for $200 down). You’ll sign up as an early adopter of what Neo’s maker, a California-based company called 1X, is calling a “consumer-ready humanoid.” That is opposed to other humanoids under development from that choice Tesla And imageWhich is more focused on the factory environment at least at the moment.
A whole order of magnitude different from Neo Robot vacuum Like Roomba, Eufy and Ecovacs, and embody the long-running sci-fi fantasy of robot maids and butlers. to work And pick us up behind. If that’s the future, read on for more of what’s in store.
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What the Neo Robot Can Do Around the House
The 1X’s pitch is that the Neo can do all sorts of household chores: folding laundry, running the vacuum, tidying shelves and fetching groceries. It can open doors, climb stairs and even act as a home entertainment system.
Thanks to the 1X’s tendon-driven motor system that gives it smooth motion and impressive power, the Neo can be seen moving smoothly with a soft, almost human-like gait. The company says it can lift up to 154 pounds and carry 55 pounds, but it’s quieter than a refrigerator. It’s covered in soft materials and neutral colors, making it less intimidating than other companies’ metal prototypes.
The company says the Neo has a runtime of 4 hours. Its hands are IP68-rated, meaning they’re submerged in water. It can connect via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 5G. For conversations, it has a built-in Large Language Model (LLM), of the same type AI technology that power chatgpt And Gemini.
The primary way to control the Neo Robot is to talk to it, just as if it were a person.
Still, the Neo’s usefulness today depends on how you define useful. The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern has one Take a closer look at Neo 1X’s headquarters and found that, at least for now, it’s largely tele-operated, meaning a human often uses it to operate it remotely. Virtual-reality headset and the controller.
I haven’t seen the Neo do anything autonomously, though the company shared a video of the Neo opening its own doors,” Stern wrote last week. 1X CEO Bernat Bernich told him that the Neo will do most of the work autonomously in 2026, though he admitted that quality “may lag at first.”
The company’s FAQ states that if there’s a task request Neo doesn’t know how to perform, you can schedule an expert from 1X to help the robot “learn while doing the task.”
Everything you need to know about Neo and privacy
Part of what early adopters are signing up for is letting Neo learn from their environment, so that future versions can operate more independently.
That learning process raises questions about privacy and trust. The robot uses a mix of visual, audio and contextual intelligence — meaning it can see, hear and remember interactions with you in your home.
“If you’re buying this product, it’s because you’re OK with that social contract,” Bernich told the Journal. “Neo is less about doing your tasks instantly and more about helping Neo learn to do them safely and effectively.”
Neo’s reliance on human action behind the scenes prompted a response from John Carmack, a computer industry luminary known for his work with VR systems and as the lead programmer of classic video games including Doom and Quake.
“Companies selling the dream of autonomous household humanoid robots would do well to embrace reality and sell ‘remote operated household help,'” he wrote. Post on X Social Networks.
1X says it’s taking steps to protect your privacy: Neo only listens when it’s being detected, and its cameras will blur people. You can restrict Neo from entering or viewing specific areas of your home, and the robot will never be teleoperated without the owner’s approval, the company says.
But inviting an AI-equipped humanoid to observe life in your home is no small step.
The first units are expected to ship to customers in the US in 2026 There is a $499 monthly subscription option for the full purchase price of $20,000, though this will be available at an unspecified date. A wider international rollout is promised for 2027.
Neo has a long way to go to live up to the expectations of Rosie the robot on The Jetsons. But this is no Hanna-Barbera cartoon. What we are seeing now is a much clearer harbinger of change.