Intentional or not, 1X Technologies had the most meme-worthy robots in 2024, but the technology is no joke.
The OpenAI-backed startup may be the first to bring humanoid robots into households at scale. The well-funded startup is one of the perceived leaders in the global race to mass produce humanoids.
Its flagship humanoid robot, NEO, and first-generation bot, Eve, have gained significant online attention throughout the second half of 2024. 1X CEO Bernt Børnich just shared the company’s recent progress developing NEO with Reuters during a visit to its Norway facility.
NEO had its first big public appearance in March 2024 when it stood alongside creations from major robotics players like Boston Dynamics, Figure, Unitree, Agility Robotics, Apptronik, Fourier, and Sanctuary AI during Jensen Huang’s keynote at NVIDIA’s GTC AI conference. 1X is taking a different approach than the companies it shared the stage with by focusing on house hold applications rather than industrial tasks.
When 1X formally introduced Neo in August 2024, it was met with excitement and skepticism from some who questioned whether the robot was really a person in a suit.
In November, a NEO Beta robot appeared as a guest cook on chef Nick DiGiovanni’s massively popular YouTube channel. 1X detailed the behind-the-scenes process on its blog. During the demonstration, the NEO robot successfully prepared a steak while controlled via teleoperation. The dialogue was scripted to align with creative goals. The company said the demo was intended to showcase the future potential of its technology.
In the blog post, 1X said, “The only thing standing between NEO and a fully autonomous, medium-rare steak is the input data.” The company also clarified that cooking features won’t be immediately available in the first versions of the robot for safety reasons.
1X has ambitious production targets for NEO.
The company is testing a limited number of NEO units at homes to gather operational data and ensure safety in real-world conditions. They’re aiming to manufacture hundreds of the robots in 2025, and potentially scale to a million by 2028. The get there, 1X is building out a facility in Moss, Norway for actuator manufacturing and robot assembly.
The logistics of training robots for autonomous tasks in homes is one of the biggest challenges going to market. 1X has assembled a diverse dataset of demos from its first-generation humanoid that provided a foundation. That data is used to train machine learning models to help NEO robots understand their surroundings and perform basic tasks.
During early deployments, NEO robots will likely rely on teleoperation to start. Teleoperators would stand in for autonomy so NEO can learn enough by observing and mimicking human-led tasks to work independently.
Standing 1.6 meters, or 5 feet 4 inches, the NEO robot weighs just 30 kg, which 1X says makes it safe for households. The NEO walks at a pace of 4 km per hour (2.5 mph)or 2 and can carry up to 20 kg (44 lbs), which is about what a midsized microwave weighs.
The current iteration runs between two and four hours with a single charge. 1X touts the robot’s bioinspired design as a game-changing safety feature. The robot has a soft outer covering, like a padded suit, to keep people safe if it bumps into them.
1X says, once production is scaled, the AI powered robot will be priced about the same as a modest car.
While 1X is busy developing a mass production ready version of NEO, its first-generation robot is hogging attention. The company introduced EVE all the way back in 2018 when it was still operating under its original name, Halodi Robotics. It’s mostly been used as a research and development platform and to gather data for future deployments.
However, in November 2024 popular Twitch streamer Kai Cenat introduced an EVE robot during his Mafiathon 2 livestream. He said he bought the robot for $24K. While the wheeled humanoid can operate autonomously, much of its actions appear to be controlled remotely.
The content has proven popular, and clips of EVE interacting with celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Benny Blanco, and Chris Brown have gone viral. There’s also moments 1X would probably prefer to not have out there.
Entering 2025, humanoid robots are becoming a status symbol, with Kim Kardashian apparently becoming the first celebrity to get an Optimus.
It’s only a matter of time before the NEO robot is adopted by someone very famous.