At NVIDIA's GTC 2025 conference, 1X demonstrated Neo vacuuming and pretending to water plants in a simulated living room. Bernt Børnich, CEO of 1X, explained during the presentation that while NEO is capable of balancing and walking independently, most tasks are still controlled by human remote operators.

"Neo Gamma will enter households this year," shared Børnich. "We want to invite early adopters to help us develop this system this year. We hope it can live and learn among people, and for that, we need people to bring NEO into their homes and help us teach it how to behave."

This announcement comes at a time when humanoid robots are receiving significant attention from investors. 1X's California competitor, Figure, is reportedly in negotiations for a $1.5 billion funding round with a valuation of up to $40 billion. Meanwhile, Mercedes has not only supported Apptronik's $403 million Series A funding but also deployed their robots in its factories. OpenAI and Google are also pursuing various humanoid robot projects.

What sets NEO apart is its tendon-driven system. Unlike robots that use traditional mechanical drives, 1X has developed a proprietary tendon technology that they claim allows for smoother movement, similar to human motion. "The robots we build move more like muscles. Inside, there are tendons pulled by our motors," explained Børnich.

The end result is a robot that looks distinctly different from other humanoid robots. Weighing only 30 kilograms (approximately 66 pounds), NEO wears knitted nylon clothing. The company states that they have been researching this technology for ten years, solving common issues such as tendon stretching and wear that historically limited this approach.

However, NEO’s initial household introduction won't fulfill the sci-fi vision of a fully autonomous assistant like Rosie from "The Jetsons." Instead, the robot will operate through a hybrid system where its movements and balance are autonomously controlled, but higher-level functions like navigation and task execution will rely on remote operators — humans controlling the robot remotely via its cameras and sensors.

This remote operator approach raises privacy concerns about having a camera-equipped remote-operated robot in the home. 1X says customers will control when company employees can view NEO’s surroundings, though details of the early adopter program remain scarce.

For Børnich, household deployment is less about a product launch and more about data collection. "If we want our AI to align with our culture, they actually need to gather data from living and learning among us," he said. This data collection mission drives 1X's strategy of placing robots in homes before achieving full autonomy.

The CEO compared owning NEO Gamma to adopting a puppy: "It won't work perfectly on the first day, but it will be fun. It's a journey, not a destination. Your dog will never do laundry, but NEO will."

1X is currently building a waitlist for potential early adopters on its website, although pricing and specific plan details have yet to be announced. For those hoping to purchase a fully autonomous humanoid robot directly, the wait continues — we're still a few years away from that reality.