1X Technologies, the Norwegian humanoid robotics company backed by OpenAI and EQT Ventures, has begun shipping NEO Beta units to its first wave of consumer customers — a milestone that represents the most significant commercial test of home humanoid robotics to date.
What NEO Is
NEO is a 5'4", ~30 kg humanoid designed specifically for home environments. Unlike industrial humanoids (Atlas, Figure 03, Apollo) that target factory floors, NEO's design priorities are:
- Safety in unstructured environments: Soft exterior surfaces, force-limiting joints, and behavioral constraints that prevent dangerous actions in the presence of humans and pets
- Human-scale manipulation: Hands designed to use tools, appliances, and furniture designed for humans — not specialized industrial grippers
- Long operational hours: 6-8 hours on a charge in typical home use patterns
- Quiet operation: Designed to operate in living spaces without noise disruption
What NEO Can Actually Do
Based on 1X's disclosed capability set for the Beta program:
Currently functional:
- Carrying and moving objects (laundry, groceries, boxes)
- Loading/unloading dishwashers
- Retrieving specific objects from known locations
- Basic household tidying (returning objects to designated spots)
- Following verbal instructions via natural language interface
In development (not yet reliable):
- Cooking and food preparation
- Complex folding tasks
- Stair navigation (currently flat-surface only)
- Outdoor operation
The candid capability disclosure is notable — 1X has been explicit that NEO Beta is a data-collection and early-experience program, not a fully capable home assistant.
NEO Beta Program Details
1X is offering NEO Beta through a subscription model at approximately $1,200-1,500/month rather than an outright purchase price. This structure allows 1X to:
- Maintain ownership and update the units remotely
- Collect training data from real home deployments
- Iterate on hardware without stranding customers with obsolete units
Initial availability was limited to 500 US households, selected through an application process that prioritized single-story homes without pets and with tech-comfortable residents.
Market Significance
The NEO Beta program is the first large-scale real-world test of whether consumer humanoids can deliver sufficient value in actual homes to justify their cost. Previous humanoid deployments have been controlled industrial pilots with well-defined tasks. Home environments are fundamentally more chaotic.
The results of this program — anticipated to be reported by 1X in mid-2026 — will significantly influence investor and competitive thinking about the timeline for mass-market home robotics.
For industrial buyers, 1X's industrial companion product EVE remains available for warehouse and logistics applications. See collaborative robot guide for cobots that are commercially available today.