A humanoid robot that can vacuum, fold laundry and unload the dishwasher sounds like the future arriving in your living room. The 1X NEO is meant to make exactly that a reality in 2026. However, there is one major catch.
Robotics company 1X Technologies plans to deliver NEO, its humanoid household robot designed as a home assistant, to its first private customers in the US by the end of 2026. The robot is 5 ft 5 in tall, weighs just under 66 lbs and is said to be able to lift up to 154 lbs and carry around 55 lbs. The cost of the household robot is at least $20,000, but it may also be rented for approximately $500 a month. This will still be too much for average households. A possible alternative could come from SwitchBot, which announced a household robot at CES 2026 that is said to be the most affordable of its kind.
On the manufacturer’s website, the 1X NEO can be seen vacuuming, folding laundry and unloading the dishwasher. They’re probably the sorts of jobs that consumers would prefer to give to an automated assistant. However, in practical terms some of these may still be dealt with by humans. The company claims that NEO will be able to be remotely controlled by a 1X expert at specific times when it is not capable of completing a task on its own. As of now, 1X has not indicated which functions will be completely self-contained at the launch, and which need to be helped by humans.
In the eyes of many Redditors, for example, the 1X NEO is not a finished household robot, but rather a learning environment where the goal is to accomplish daily tasks without the aid of humans. Many people also don’t like the notion that a stranger would be able to intrude on their home through cameras.
But, 1X is trying to make the robot work without human intervention. It is claimed that the first NEO robots are already being used in the company’s own factory in Hayward, Calif., for simple logistics jobs, among other things. This gives 1X a chance to gather real-world training data to further develop the system. Further automation and an additional plant in San Carlos will enable 1X to manufacture over 100,000 robots a year by the end of 2027.
