The world's first "brainless" home robot goes on sale, priced at 140,000 yuan.
If robots start to find substitutes, and a human operates a robot to "invade" your life, would you allow it?
If you were to choose a life steward in the future, would you prefer a human or a robot?
While current embodied intelligent robots are all competing in AI algorithms, the products of this company have completely overturned the existing gameplay.
They don't focus on the robots themselves; instead, they focus on "the people behind the robots"!
Does it sound a bit abstract?
Because their approach is really abstract! This robot can actually "operate without a brain."
That is, a human operator controls the robot, and then the robot serves humans.
In other words, when you buy a robot steward home and ask it to pour you a glass of water, you are actually telling the operator behind the robot, and then the operator remotely controls the robot to complete the task.
It's as if this robot is equipped with a human puppeteer, and this human controls it with a VR headset.
Amazing!
When I saw the Neo robot steward named 1X on foreign media today, I was really a little shocked!
As we all know, there are two key technologies for embodied intelligence. One is the physical hardware, such as joints and miniaturized drives;
The other is the robot's brain, such as the currently popular VLA. However, due to the complexity of real - life situations, VLA can only perform some basic operations.
This company's choice is not to compete in AI for now, but to let humans directly control the embodied intelligent robots.
Behind the robot, it's not AI, but a real - life human!
This gameplay is even a bit like the drivers remotely controlling self - driving taxis.
But compared with other mainstream robots, such as Figure 03 and Tesla's Optimus, it's a completely different approach.
The founder of 1X told reporters that in the future, they will launch an intelligent and proactive Neo model, but for now, it is still controlled by humans.
Neo doesn't completely operate without a brain
Of course, Neo is not completely controlled by humans. For some simple tasks, such as folding clothes and organizing space, it needs to be remotely operated by human experts.
When Neo doesn't know how to do a certain household chore, you can make an appointment with a 1X expert to guide it and conduct remote control.
Different from many robots working in factories, Neo is designed to live with humans.
Neo's face is covered with a soft mask, with only two small black - dot eyes showing, looking harmless.
What makes it even more different from other robots is that it is wearing a thick sweater.
Bernt Børnich, the founder of 1X, said that one reason is for safety, to avoid hard collisions, and more importantly, it is an aesthetic concept.
What about privacy?
The biggest problem with this model is privacy.
If a human wears a VR headset to control a robot to enter someone's life, it is an invasion of that person's privacy.
Bernt Børnich, the CEO of 1X, said frankly:
"This is not suitable for everyone. If you buy this product, it's because you accept that social contract. Without your data, we can't make the product better."
Social contract, this is another trendy term.
Robot taxis are already shuttling on city streets, and robots have flooded into factories.
But the unpredictability of the home environment makes it a more challenging frontier.
1X's Neo is addressing two major challenges for household robots: creating a safe body and a smart brain.
But it needs our data and our home environment, which is why 1X uses human operators first:
Current data simply doesn't support training truly intelligent and autonomous robots. It's better to have human experts operate them directly.
Bernt Børnich said that to address privacy issues, they will impose dual restrictions at the hardware and software levels.
For example, they can restrict the areas in the home that the robot can go to, just like a vacuum - cleaning robot, not allowing it to enter certain rooms.
For example, the faces of people in the home seen by the human operator are blurred.
For example, the robot is not allowed to pick up objects heavier than a certain weight or objects that are very hot.
A safe body
Neo looks like a combination of a fencing coach and a Lululemon clothing model.
This 66 - pound robot is wearing a one - piece suit like a sweater because nothing conveys the feeling of "I won't hurt you" better than a comfortable knitted sweater.
Another aspect is its design weight. This robot is light enough.
Even if it falls, it won't seriously hurt people, and it doesn't use the heavy gears of industrial robots.
Neo uses motors that pull synthetic tendons to simulate muscles, thereby limiting speed and strength.
In an interview, Neo was set so that it couldn't crush a walnut with its mechanical hand, nor could it crack a walnut with its bare hands. Its finger strength is comparable to that of a human.
A smart brain
The purpose of using human operators is not just limited to humans. The goal is to eventually enable Neo to complete all these actions independently.
But for now, behind those actions, there is indeed a 1X - level expert remote operator wearing a VR headset and holding a controller like a video - game joystick.
The current gameplay is that you arrange services in an application and tell the remote operator what you want to do and when.
On an employee's application, he set his Neo to water the flowers on Tuesday morning and vacuum on Wednesday.
The videos of Neo performing household chores will be input into 1X's world model to train the robot to eventually complete these tasks independently.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering our lives.
Even if it's not 1X, other startups like Tesla or Figure will turn this dream into reality.
Neo is a glimpse into the dawn of home - based physical artificial intelligence—a future where machines not only think in web browsers or chatbots but can move in your most private spaces.
However, as the CEO of 1X said, for the first group of people who choose to have robots enter their lives, they have agreed to a certain social contract.
This kind of contract has never existed before, whether it's allowing an expert - level stranger to operate a robot to "invade" your life or providing "life footage" to the robot for training.
But ultimately, if you believe that robots can take on the important task of a future life steward, this social contract will eventually be accepted by more people.
When the vast majority of people accept it, the minority will follow the majority, and humans may really enter a world of human - machine coexistence like that described in cyber - themed movies.
Carbon - based intelligence will ultimately move towards an era of silicon - carbon symbiosis, it's just a matter of time.
