I Tried the Robot Soon Invading Homes --- 1X's Neo wants to be your housekeeper. First, it needs to be controlled by a Human in your home. Cool with you?

 

Chinese are actively driving down costs of robots, with Unitree notably launching a model for under $6,000. The quality is better, than any robots in the West.This undercuts most Western competitors, and costs are projected to fall further.

 

“Palo Alto, Calif. -- Rule #1 when testing humanoid robots: Be nice. You know why; you've seen the movies.  

 

And Neo looks like it marched straight out of one.

 

The five-foot-six robot shuffled to the dishwasher, pulled the door handle and slid a fork -- tines up, naturally -- into the silverware holder. Then it grabbed a towel to wipe the counter. Later, it folded my sweater and fetched a bottle of water from the fridge.

 

It was wild to watch. Sure, Neo nearly toppled over while closing the dishwasher, took two minutes to fold the shirt and twisted its arm attempting to dance the Macarena. But shhh. Remember the rule.

 

Oh, did I mention Neo had a human puppet master, controlling it with a VR headset?

 

Neo's creator, 1X Technologies, is making the Rosie-the-Robot dream: some of the first humanoid housekeepers. Starting Tuesday, you can apply to its early adopter program and preorder one for $20,000, with delivery expected in 2026. The company will also offer a $499 monthly rental plan with a six-month minimum commitment.

 

Just one hidden cost: your privacy. For now, you'll need to be cool with a company representative potentially peering through the robot's camera eyes to get chores done. There are guardrails, including controls over when and what the operator can do.

 

"It's not for everyone," 1X CEO Bernt Bornich told me in an exclusive video interview. "If you buy this product, it is because you're OK with that social contract. If we don't have your data, we can't make the product better."

 

Robotaxis are cruising city streets and robots are flooding factories, but the unpredictability of the home makes it a trickier frontier. Neo from 1X is taking on two of home robotics' biggest challenges: building a safe body and a smart brain. But it needs data from us -- and our homes.

 

I spent a day with Neo at 1X's headquarters, testing what it's like to have a droid do our dirty work.

 

A safe body

 

Neo looks like a cross between a fencing instructor and a Lululemon mannequin. The 66-pound robot wears a sweater-like onesie, because nothing says "I'm harmless" like cozy knitwear. The fabric is there for safety and aesthetics, Bornich told me.

 

Safety has been a struggle. The first time I met Neo, earlier this year, it face-planted. Full-on robokill. My immediate thought was no way that thing is coming near my kids or dog.

 

But Bornich explained that this new version of Neo is designed to be "provably safe." It's light enough not to seriously hurt anyone if it falls, and Neo uses motors that pull on synthetic tendons to mimic muscles, limiting speed and force.

 

Even its finger strength is roughly the same as a human. When I asked Neo to crack a walnut shell, it couldn't. So much for a $20,000 nutcracker.

 

With a humanlike body and hands, Neo can attempt many household chores. Emphasis on attempt. Here's how my tests went:

 

Grab water from the fridge. After an awkward dance with the door, the bot snagged the bottle and triumphantly delivered it to me, 10 feet away.

 

Load the dishwasher. Nailed it. . .eventually. A fork in the holder, two plastic glasses on the top rack and a shaky squat to shut the door -- all in just five minutes. I may have applauded.

 

Fold a sweater. Not retail-ready, but two minutes later, the sweater was. . .folded. (The dexterity of humanoid hands is a big challenge.)

 

A smart brain

 

The goal is for Neo to do all of that autonomously. But a 1X expert teleoperator, wearing a VR headset and wielding videogame-like controllers, was behind all those moves. They even let me drive -- until I nearly dislocated Neo's arm trying to make it do the Macarena. Neo was escorted off the scene on a robot wheelchair. Hero.

 

But for Neo to autonomously tidy up your kitchen in the future, it needs a smarter brain. Its AI neural network learns from real-world experience. That's part of why 1X is sending early versions into homes: to capture videos of every dishwasher load and laundry fold -- and feed them into its world model.

 

I didn't see Neo do anything autonomously, although the company did share a video of Neo opening a door on its own.

 

Bornich said that in 2026, Neo "will do most of the things in your home autonomously." He admitted the quality may lag at first. Neo will "improve drastically" as the company gathers more data, he said. The glasses in your cabinet might be messy, your shirt's arm might be untucked, but it will be good enough.

 

Initially, you'll schedule sessions in an app and tell a remote operator exactly what you'd like done and when. On one employee's app, I saw he had his Neo scheduled for plant watering on Tuesday mornings and vacuuming on Wednesdays.

 

Bornich assured me, "you are always in control." You can set no-go zones and blur faces in the video feed, and an operator will never connect without your approval. Videos used for training data, he said, won't be accessible to employees without your consent.

 

He compared teleoperation to hiring a house cleaner -- only "safer," he says, since operators are vetted and monitored. Last I checked, my house cleaner doesn't wear a camera or beam my data back to a corporation.

 

And if too many sci-fi movies have you worried about Neo leaving the stove on or dropping a table on you while you sleep, Bornich said initially Neo won't handle anything hot, heavy or sharp.

 

A shifting boundary

 

I said "this is nuts" at least five times during my day with Neo -- and not just when handing it walnuts. It's nuts that we're inching toward the dream of a capable home robot, and even nuttier that some will start inviting it into their homes.

 

For now, Neo isn't a match for a human housekeeper. The next few years won't be about owning a capable robot; they'll be about raising one, letting it learn your home, routines and chores.

 

But AI is barreling into our lives fast. If not 1X, then Tesla or other startups like Figure are going to make this dream a reality. Neo is a glimpse of the dawn of physical AI in our homes -- a future where machines don't just think in a web browser or chatbot, but move through your most private spaces.

 

Just remember: Be nice when a robot takes a minute just to close the dishwasher.” [1]

 

1. I Tried the Robot Soon Invading Homes --- 1X's Neo wants to be your housekeeper. First, it needs to be controlled by a Human in your home. Cool with you? Stern, Joanna.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 29 Oct 2025: A10.