The world's first household robot goes on sale, with a monthly rental fee of 3,600 yuan. It takes one minute to fetch a bottle of water and still needs to be remotely controlled by a real person.
The world's first humanoid robot truly designed for consumers and capable of doing household chores has arrived.
This time, it doesn't dance ballet or show off kung - fu. It can really clean for us and be at our beck and call.
Just shout "Neo, help me fold the clothes", and a 1.68 - meter - tall humanoid robot will turn around from the corner, bend down gently, and "flexibly" fold the clothes with its arms.
In March, it even bought a leather jacket for Jensen Huang and gave it to him in person.
After more than half a year of optimization, now we can also buy it home.
1X, a robot company supported by giants such as OpenAI, NVIDIA, and Samsung, announced that its humanoid robot Neo is officially available for pre - order today.
The price is $20,000 (about 145,000 RMB) for a one - time purchase, or you can choose a monthly subscription service of $499 (about 3,600 RMB), with two payment methods.
On the official website's purchase page, there are three different colors to choose from: light brown, gray, and dark brown. https://www.1x.tech/order
Currently, you can pre - order on the 1X official website. The first batch is available for users in the United States, and the delivery will start next year; it is expected to expand to global users in 2027.
Although the monthly subscription fee may be cheaper than hiring a nanny, can Neo really handle those delicate and complicated household chores like a human being?
Please regard it as a household appliance, not a "Terminator".
Neo is 1.68 meters tall and weighs about 30 kilograms. Its whole body is covered with a soft polymer shell, and it wears a knitted turtleneck and sports shoes.
The founder of 1X said that this makes it look less like a Terminator and more like a robot that can do housework, chat, and has a personality.
In terms of design, Neo's arms have 22 joints, approaching human flexibility, and it can lift objects weighing about 45 catties.
For comparison, the relevant parameters of the H2 previously released by Unitree are: 180 cm tall, 70 kg in weight, and a total of 31 joints.
Inside Neo, there are a 3D vision camera, a microphone array, and the NVIDIA Jetson platform, enabling it to recognize voices, understand objects, and even answer questions.
Based on these forms and capabilities, 1X introduced that the core function of Neo is to automate daily household chores. We can give it a task list or use simple voice commands to let it handle various trivial matters.
Household chore handling: For example, folding clothes, organizing bookshelves and desks, and tidying up sundries.
Daily assistance: Helping us get things, greeting guests at the door, and turning off the lights at night.
Intelligent interaction: Neo is not just about "taking action". It also has a large - language model built - in, allowing it to have natural conversations with us like a smart speaker.
Situation awareness: It is equipped with visual and auditory intelligence. This means it can see the ingredients on the kitchen counter and suggest recipes, and it can also know when to interrupt and when to stay quiet when we are chatting with others.
Memory ability: It can remember past conversations and provide consistent personalized help, such as helping us manage schedules, set reminders, or track our language learning progress.
It is worth mentioning that Neo also has a three - level speaker built into its chest and pelvic area. When it is not busy, it is a mobile home entertainment system, a walking smart speaker.
It's not just a robot; there's also a person operating it behind the scenes.
By now, you may really be ready to check if you can place an order. But note that the key "shortcut" behind Neo's delivery in 2026 is that it is not fully autonomous.
1X admitted that Neo can only handle some basic tasks upon delivery. What will it do when it encounters a complex task it doesn't know how to handle, such as operating a unique - model washing machine at home?
The answer is: "Call for backup".
Neo's two "glasses" will turn into cameras for the remote operator, and the remote operator will give instructions to Neo on how to operate.
Neo has a "killer" feature: Users can summon a remote "1X Expert".
This well - trained human operator will, via the Internet (Neo supports WiFi and 5G), take over and remotely control Neo in real - time, obtain the current environment through its cameras, and control its body to complete tasks.
The advantage is that Neo can "learn while doing". After observing the human operator's actions, the robot will learn the skill to complete it autonomously in the future.
The disadvantage is that this brings huge privacy issues.
Imagine a stranger freely moving around in your living room and bedroom through the robot's camera and microphone, observing everything in your home. Netizens have even imagined the scenario of hacking the system and then using the robot to cause various kinds of damage.
This robot is quite similar to the vending machines often seen online. It is said that there is a person controlling them behind the scenes, not relying on the machine to recognize what the buyer has taken.
When a reporter from The Wall Street Journal was experiencing it, he asked Neo to get a bottle of water from the fridge. It could walk over but couldn't open the door, so a remote human had to take over the operation. It finally took a minute to get the bottle of water.
In another demonstration, it tried to vacuum but gave up because the vacuum cleaner was out of power.
Most of the tasks Neo can handle currently are predictable and of low complexity. For scenarios that really require judgment, it still relies on the "remote human" to help it complete.
It's equivalent to paying the monthly subscription fee of about 3,600 RMB to the "human expert" operating the robot behind the scenes.
The CEO of 1X spent a lot of time explaining the reliability of this. For example, users can demarcate areas where the behind - the - scenes operator cannot let Neo enter; every action of the behind - the - scenes operator must first get the user's permission; when the microphone on Neo is awakened; and data encryption, etc.
In the Q&A section of the product page, it explains that the "expert" cannot access the robot for command at any time.
He also mentioned that this is for training. Neo doesn't have to practice millions of times in the laboratory like other robots. It can directly learn in real families and use the life details of countless families to train more general intelligence.
1X was also straightforward about this, saying that early users are actually "Beta testers". The products they buy will expand their capabilities through continuous software updates and training.
It turns out that today's launch is just about recruiting guinea pigs to collect users' images, voices, and privacy as learning materials for it.
Currently, the tweet on their X account announcing the sale has received tens of millions of views. In the comment section, some users have also posted screenshots of their pre - order records.
The popularity of the humanoid robot track is no less than that of large - language AI models. Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasized that his Tesla Optimus robot may account for 80% of the company's future revenue.
Figure AI, also supported by OpenAI and NVIDIA, raised $1 billion in financing at a staggering valuation of $39 billion in September. On the 9th of this month, it also released its third - generation humanoid robot, Figure 03. The presence of domestic robot company Unitree Technology cannot be ignored either.
Just like what the reporter said in the experience video. Although it can do housework, it feels really strange that there is a person controlling it behind the scenes.
People need an AI Copilot to help themselves, so robots also need a Pilot to guide their actions.
The right picture shows the assistant operating the Neo robot behind the scenes, also called Turing.
I can only regard this as the first step for household robots. Previously, we wrote a lot about world - generation models and mentioned that the world generated by AI can be a training environment for tasks such as autonomous driving.
It seems that the same is true in the robot field. Without a virtual training environment, we can first let them out to receive complex training in the real world and then grow gradually.
Finally, here is the experience video from The Wall Street Journal. The subtitles are translated by AI. Video source: https://youtu.be/f3c4mQty_so
As a little bonus, Elon Musk said, "I know what to do with my robot."
Image source: x@ djcows
This article is from the WeChat public account "APPSO". The author is the one who discovers tomorrow's products. 36Kr is published with authorization.