1X NEO: what $20,000 actually gets you

NEO is a humanoid robot built for homes, and one of the first you can order with a price on it. Here is what its maker promises, what reporters have seen with their own eyes, and what the fine print says.

Checked Oct 31, 2026About 12 minutesNot a review: I haven’t used one. How I check

The 1X NEO humanoid robot, standing, with a beige knitted body and a plain rounded head

Image source: 1X media assets. Courtesy of 1X

The short version

Price: $20,000 to buy, or $499 a month. A $200 deposit holds your place.
Delivered yet?: Not to any customer I can verify, as of Oct 31, 2026.
Day one: “Basic” skills, 1X says. For harder chores, a 1X employee steers it from a distance.
Privacy: When you allow it, that employee sees your home through NEO’s cameras.
Deposit: Refundable until 14 days after 1X invites you to buy. After that, you lose it if you back out.
Deadline: 1X says US deliveries start in 2026. That leaves 61 days.

On this page

What NEO is, in one minute
How you control it
What it can do on day one
What people have actually seen
Who sees inside your home
The money
The deposit fine print
When it might arrive
The company behind it
How it compares
What I still don’t know

What NEO is, in one minute

A robot shaped like a person, about the height of an average adult, that walks on two legs and wears a soft knit suit you can put in the washing machine.

1X, a company based in Palo Alto, California, makes it in its own factory in Hayward and sells it direct. For now it sells only in the US. Under the suit, 1X wraps the motors and joints in a soft, padded lattice and says there are no pinch points. At 66 pounds, it weighs about the same as a large Labrador.

Height: 5 ft 6 in1X says, Oct 27, 2026
Weight: 66 lb1X says, Oct 27, 2026
Battery: About 4 hours1X says, Oct 27, 2026
Noise: 22 dB1X says, Oct 27, 2026
Lift: 154 lb1X says, Oct 27, 2026
Carry: 55 lb1X says, Oct 27, 2026

Lift is not carry

1X says NEO can lift 154 pounds, more than twice its own weight, but carry only 55 pounds while it walks. That’s less than it weighs. Lifting something for a moment and walking with it are different jobs, and the carry figure is the one that matters for groceries or a laundry basket.

Lift, for a moment154 lb

NEO’s own weight66 lb

Carry, while walking55 lb

1X says, Oct 27, 2026. Order page

It charges itself from a normal wall outlet, and 1X says a 6-minute charge buys an hour of work. It connects over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 5G.

Look closerThe hands

Each hand moves on 22 joints, and a July 2026 update added 3 more at the wrist, which is why you’ll see both 22 and 25 quoted. 1X says the hands can feel pressure and slip, and are waterproof. The rest of the body is only splash-proof, so NEO shouldn’t get wet.

Look closerThe safety figure

1X lists a “HIC under 250”. HIC is a crash-test measure of how hard a blow to the head is. 1X hasn’t said how it tested, or named any safety certification for the robot as a whole.

How you control it

Mostly by talking to it. For anything it can’t do yet, someone else takes the controls: a 1X employee, or you.

Talk to itYou, by voice

Ask in everyday words, like “Can you tidy the living room?” NEO answers out loud. 1X says it remembers context and can hold a conversation.

Use the appYou, on your phone

Schedule chores, including repeating ones, see what NEO’s cameras see, and accept or end an Expert session.

Book a 1X ExpertA 1X employee, remotely

For chores it can’t do on its own. The Expert wears a VR headset, sees through NEO’s cameras and moves it. You book and accept each session.

Steer it yourselfYou, remotely

1X says owners can pilot NEO through the app and a VR headset, and teach it a chore that way. Which headsets work isn’t stated.

1X says, Oct 31, 2026. Order page FAQ

One detail from the demos: at The Wall Street Journal and on Hard Fork, even NEO’s voice was the operator’s. The person steering it from another room also did the talking. Neither saw NEO hold a conversation on its own.

What it thinks with

1X names its own AI, but not the language model NEO talks with.

Redwood AI1X’s own model
It looks through NEO’s cameras and turns what it sees, and what you ask, into movement, controlling the walking and the hands together. 1X says it runs on the robot about five times a second, and was trained on recordings of 1X’s robots, including ones steered by people, in offices and in employees’ homes. 1X, Jun 2025
A large language modelFor conversation
1X calls it a “built-in large language model” and doesn’t say whose it is. Its own technical post shows speech going through a language model on 1X’s servers, not on the robot. 1X, Jun 2025
The World ModelStill research
A video model that imagines how a task should look, then works out the movements to match. It isn’t something 1X promises on day one. 1X, Jan 2026
The computerNvidia Jetson Thor
1X calls it NEO Cortex and stresses that safety and vision run on the robot. But “on the robot” doesn’t mean “never leaves your home”. 1X, Apr 2026

Is it ChatGPT? OpenAI’s startup fund is 1X’s best-known investor, so it’s a fair question. 1X doesn’t say NEO uses an OpenAI model. Its CEO has said 1X builds its core AI itself and has at times trained models together with OpenAI and Nvidia (TechCrunch, Mar 2025).

What it can do on day one

Not much on its own, by 1X’s own account.

1X says NEO arrives with “basic” skills and learns more through updates. It sorts chores into three groups, and the middle one is where most of the housework sits.

On its own

1X says

Get the door
Put dishes away
Turn off lights
Clean up trash
Water plants

With a 1X Expert steering it

Booked ahead, done remotely

Laundry
Empty the dishwasher
Tidy the whole house
Feed the pets
Bartend a party

Not at first

“Restricted” at launch, 1X says

Cooking
Anything very hot
Anything very heavy
Anything very sharp

1X says, Oct 27, 2026. Order page FAQ

The first list is short and light. The second is the one people actually want help with, and every chore on it depends on a person at 1X doing the work through the robot. 1X calls this Expert Mode, and you book it ahead of time.

NEO can also talk. 1X says it can answer questions, suggest a recipe from what’s in your fridge, keep a grocery list, set reminders and play music.

Look closerHow often it works

On the New York Times’ Hard Fork podcast in November 2025, 1X’s CEO estimated NEO opened doors on its own in the “90-something” percent of tries, and fetched things about 80% of the time. Those are his estimates, with no published test behind them. At 80%, if you asked it to fetch ten things a day, about two would fail.

What people have actually seen

Four sets of reporters have watched NEO do chores in person. Every chore they saw was done with a 1X employee steering it.

Reporters who saw NEO do chores in person, newest first
Who, and when	What they saw	Steered by a person?	What went wrong
The New YorkerJun 2026	Placing dishes in a rack, smoothly	Yes, every move	1X declined to show its AI
NYT, Hard Fork podcastNov 2025	Fetching drinks, filling a cup, clearing clutter	Yes, everything	Dropped tongs it couldn’t pick up; nearly fell
The Wall Street JournalOct 2025	Fetching water, loading a dishwasher, folding clothes	Yes, everything	Very slow; needed breaks to cool down and charge
TechCrunchMar 2025	Vacuuming, watering plants	Partly	It shook and collapsed into the CEO’s arms

WIRED also watched NEO’s new hands in July 2026, over a video call. 1X said that demo ran on its own, but it was finger movements only, not a chore.

Speed is the other thing that stands out.

Over 1 minto fetch a bottle of water from a fridge about 10 feet away

About 5 minto put three items in a dishwasher

Timed by The Wall Street Journal, Oct 2025. Not the exact model 1X plans to ship, the Journal noted.

None of this means NEO can never work alone. 1X has posted videos of it doing tasks on its own, and says some of its marketing clips were steered and some weren’t. But nobody outside 1X has seen it clean a home unaided.

No owner reviews yet. No owner I can find has a NEO. When owners post about theirs, I’ll add what they say here, with links, good and bad.

Who sees inside your home

When NEO needs help, a 1X employee sees your home through its cameras and steers it. 1X says this happens only when you book it and accept it.

1You book itAsk for a 1X Expert by voice or in the app.
2You accept itWhen the session starts, you say yes.
3The ears change colourSo everyone in the room can tell.
4An Expert steersA 1X employee in the US sees through NEO’s cameras and moves it.
5You end itAt any time.

1X says, Oct 31, 2026. Order page FAQ

The promises about what happens to that footage are in 1X’s FAQ and in interviews. The legal document says something different.

What 1X promises

In its FAQ and in interviews

People’s faces are blurred (CEO, to the WSJ)
You can mark rooms as off-limits
Your data isn’t sold, and 1X doesn’t build a profile of you
You can opt out of sharing data to train its AI
You can delete recordings in the app

What its privacy policy says

The legal document, last updated Oct 27, 2025

It’s written for 1X’s website
It doesn’t mention NEO’s cameras or microphones
Data is kept as long as 1X judges it relevant
Data can be transferred if the company is sold or goes bankrupt

So the protections that matter most to a NEO owner live in an FAQ and in things the CEO has said, which 1X can change. They may well end up in the final terms you sign before delivery. Until then, it’s a fair question to ask before you pay.

Why 1X wants the footage

The sessions are how NEO learns. Each time an Expert does a chore through the robot, 1X gets a recording it can use to teach NEO to do that chore alone. Its CEO was blunt about it:

“You have to be okay with this for the product to be useful.”
Bernt Børnich, 1X CEO, to The Wall Street Journal, Oct 2025

You can opt out of sharing. The CEO has said that, in the near term, NEO will be able to do less if you do.

The money

Renting costs the same as buying after about 40 months. The warranty on a bought NEO runs out at 36.

Plan	Buy (Early Access)	Subscribe (Standard)
Price	$20,000	$499 a month
Warranty	3 years	Not stated
Delivery	Priority	After buyers
When you stop	You keep it	You return it

Total paid, buy or subscribe

Subscribe, $499 a monthBuy, $20,000 once

Show the numbers

After	Subscribe	Buy
1 yr	$5,988	$20,000
2 yrs	$11,976	$20,000
3 yrs	$17,964	$20,000
4 yrs	$23,952	$20,000
5 yrs	$29,940	$20,000

Prices: 1X says, Oct 21, 2026. Repairs, Expert hours and any other fees aren’t included: 1X hasn’t stated them.

If you’d keep NEO for less than three years and four months, the subscription costs less. If you’d keep it longer, buying does. Either way, the first years of NEO are the ones when it can do the least on its own.

What 1X hasn’t said yet

Not statedHow many Expert hours come with either plan
Not statedHow long you’d wait for an Expert
Not statedWhat repairs cost
Not statedThe subscription’s minimum term (one interview mentioned six months; the pre-order terms leave it to the final offer)

About 15¢

Power is the cheap part. NEO’s battery holds 842 watt-hours, so a full charge costs about 15 cents at the 2026 US average home electricity price of 18.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. 1X says under $1 a day, which looks safe.

The deposit fine print

The $200 deposit is refundable, but not forever.

Under 1X’s pre-order terms, you can get it back until 14 days after 1X emails you an invitation to buy. After that, it’s gone, even if you decide not to go ahead.

Refundable: the full $200 backNon-refundable

1You pay $200You join a waiting list. This isn’t an order yet.
2You waitThe terms say 1X makes no promise about when your invitation will arrive.
31X emails an Order InvitationIt sets out the final price and the full terms of sale.
4You have 14 daysCancel by emailing 1X’s support team and you get the $200 back.
5Day 15 onwardThe deposit is non-refundable, even if you don’t buy.

1X’s Pre-Order Terms, section 3, last updated Oct 28, 2025. Read Oct 31, 2026.

1X’s FAQ says something looser: that the deposit is refundable up until NEO is ready for delivery. The pre-order terms are the document you agree to, and they’re stricter.

Three more things in the terms

1X can cancel your pre-order

At any time, for any reason, and refund your deposit.

The specs aren’t a promise

The terms call the published specifications general illustrations, not a guarantee.

The real terms come later

Warranty, shipping, delivery and cancellation details arrive with the invitation.

Check your spam folder. The terms say 1X isn’t responsible if its invitation email goes unread. Your 14 days start when 1X sends it, not when you see it.

When it might arrive

1X says US deliveries start in 2026. That leaves 61 days, and I can’t find a customer outside 1X’s own testing who has one.

Aug 2024
A first version would go into a small number of selected homes that year, for research. 1X
Mar 2025
Its CEO expected a few hundred to a few thousand homes by the end of 2025. TechCrunch
Oct 2025
Pre-orders open. US deliveries in 2026, buyers first. 1X
Nov 2025
Its CEO forecast more than 10,000 robots shipped in 2026. Hard Fork
Apr 2026
The Hayward factory opens. First robots go to 1X’s own testing. “Some of you will get your NEO this year, some will get them later.” 1X
Jun 2026
A new engineering head talks of “beginning” to ship to everyday people. 1X
Oct 31, 2026
Today. No customer delivery I can verify. The order page still says deliveries start in 2026.
Dec 31, 2026
End of 1X’s 2026 window. 61 days from today

The 2026 promise hasn’t been broken yet. But each update has hedged more than the last, and 1X’s own pre-order terms say it makes no promise about when you’ll be invited to buy.

If you order now. Buyers come before subscribers, and 1X says its first year’s 10,000 places were taken within five days of launch. A pre-order placed today is behind all of those. Deliveries outside the US are planned for 2027 at the earliest.

The company behind it

1X started in Norway in 2014 as Halodi Robotics and spent its first years building robots for businesses. NEO is its first product for homes, and now its main one.

2014
Founded in Norway as Halodi Robotics.
2022
Signs a contract to supply 140 wheeled security robots, called EVE, to ADT Commercial. Business Wire
2023
Renamed 1X. Raises $23.5 million in a round led by OpenAI’s startup fund. 1X
2024
Raises $100 million more. Shows NEO Beta, its first robot for homes. 1X
2025
Moves its headquarters to Palo Alto. Opens pre-orders in October. Agrees to offer up to 10,000 robots to businesses owned by investor EQT, between 2026 and 2030. Business Wire
2026
Opens its factory in Hayward, California, in April. Hires a new finance chief and engineering head. 1X

The people

Bernt BørnichFounder and CEO

Founded the company in 2014 and still runs it.

Dar SleeperProduct and design

Leads how NEO looks and works.

Bill NashChief financial officer

Joined in July 2026; formerly finance chief at the self-driving car company Cruise. 1X

Tom SanockiEngineering

Joined in June 2026; worked at Pixar, Bungie and Roblox. 1X

Who owns it

OpenAI’s startup fund was an early investor, which is why you’ll often see 1X described as “OpenAI-backed”. Investing in a company isn’t the same as owning it. In August 2026, SoftBank was reported to be in talks to buy a majority stake. That report is unconfirmed.

How it plans to make money

1Sell or rent NEO to homes$20,000, or $499 a month.
2Learn from what the robots doExpert sessions in homes become recordings that teach NEO to do chores alone.
3Sell the same robot to businessesFor warehouse and factory work, like the EQT deal.

Homes are where NEO learns, which is why 1X wants robots in them early, even before they can do much alone.

Remote control isn’t a stopgap invented for NEO, either. When 1X agreed to supply ADT in 2022, those security robots were already designed so that a person in a VR headset could take over when needed. Steering robots from a distance has been part of how 1X works from the start.

Look closerThe training numbers

In a January 2026 technical post, 1X said it trained its newest AI on about 900 hours of video of people doing everyday tasks, filmed from their point of view, plus about 70 hours of robot footage. For comparison, that’s a little over five weeks of round-the-clock video. The footage from Expert sessions in homes is how 1X plans to grow that pile.

How it compares

One other robot made for homes can be pre-ordered with a price: Weave’s Isaac 1. It costs less than half as much, rolls on wheels, and also leans on remote help while it learns.

1X NEO and Weave Isaac 1, not ranked
Fact	1X NEO	Weave Isaac 1
Price to buy	$20,000	$7,999
Or per month	$499	$449
Deposit	$200	$250
Gets around on	Two legs	Wheels
Remote help from the maker	Yes, Expert Mode	Yes, the maker says
Delivery the maker promises	US, starting in 2026	California from fall 2026, wider US through 2027
This model delivered to a customer yet	None I can verify	None I can verify

Not ranked. Prices from each maker’s own site, checked Oct 21, 2026. Delivery status checked Oct 31, 2026.

Neither robot has reached a customer yet. The difference is Weave’s track record: its earlier, simpler robot, Isaac 0, is already in customers’ homes in California. Isaac 0 folds laundry and stays in one place, so it isn’t in this table, but it means Weave has delivered robots to customers’ homes before. As far as I can verify, 1X hasn’t.

Other big names have shown robots for the home, including Figure, LG and Tesla. None lists a price or an order page for homes yet. See all 22 humanoids on the Humanoids page.

What I still don’t know

1X hasn’t answered these publicly. If you’re thinking of putting down a deposit, they’re worth asking before your 14 days run out.

How many Expert hours come with NEO, and how long is the wait for one?
How long does 1X keep video and audio from your home, and can you delete it for good, including from its AI?
What still works if 1X stops supporting NEO or goes out of business?
Which safety standards does the robot as a whole meet, and who tested it?
What does the warranty leave out: the battery, accidents, wear on the hands?
Is there a minimum age for children in the home, or rules for pets?
Which battery figure is right? 1X’s spec sheet says 842 watt-hours; its FAQ says 0.75 kilowatt-hours.
What’s the minimum subscription term?

What would change this page

I recheck NEO and log every change, with its date, on the Changes page. I’m watching for:

The first delivery to a customer that someone outside 1X can confirm
1X publishing its final terms of sale
A change to the price, the deposit or the delivery promise
New hands-on reports, or the first owner reviews
News on who owns 1X

Changes to NEO

Every change I find to NEO’s price, status or specs, with its date.

Oct 31, 2026CorrectionDeposit refund: I had “until NEO is ready for delivery”, from 1X’s FAQ. 1X’s pre-order terms say until 14 days after the Order Invitation.
Oct 21, 2026AddedAdded to RoboHousehold as a pre-order, at $20,000 or $499 a month

See every change to NEO