1x's NEO Beta Robot Reveal

Hey Everyone,

In the Summer of 2024, there's been a flurry of new robot prototype reveals, especially when it comes to "humanoids" that aim ultimately to be general purpose humanoid robots (GPHRs).

1X Technologies, originally founded as Halodi Robotics in 2014 by Bernt Øyvind Børnich, is a robotics company that specializes in developing humanoid robots with human-like movements and behaviors. There's some debate if the demos are a human in a suit which I find amusing:

So let's watch the video:

NEO is in beta see the website here.

NEO Specs

• The NEO Beta is a bipedal humanoid with dexterous five-digit hands and a sporty fabric jumpsuit that conceals its "muscle-like anatomy." It stands at 5.41 ft (1.65 m) and weighs 66 lb (30 kg), capable of carrying up to 44 lb (20 kg). 

The company has been working on humanoids for more than a decade and has been an innovator since the introduction of the EVE robot, a predecessor to NEO, in 2017. 

Like Figure, they are also backed by OpenAI. It has to be noted that OpenAI Startup Fund was directly owned by Sam Altman, and may still be inspite of the PR that says this is no longer the case.

The reason I have more interest in NEO than some other companies, is it's geared for personal home use. That is, instead of building a humanoid robot for use in industry and preparing it for use there, Neo focuses on use in the home. 

NEO Beta marks a move by 1X to expand from commercial settings to consumer use. Like other Humanoid makers, 1X employs more than a dozen full-time operators to help its robots learn and refine various tasks.

The robot is still explicitly identified as a beta model in development. That's code for, it cannot yet actually do anything useful in the home! It's not clear when these robots will be able to in fact.

The company seems to see the robots in the service sector.  Once the beta phase is completed, 1X states that NEO can be produced at scale in the company’s factory in Moss, Norway. Ultimately, 1X aims to create an abundant supply of physical labor through safe, intelligent humanoids that work alongside people, whether it be a small convenience store or a large factory.

It's exceedingly vague. Europeans humanoids would supposedly be very safe for working with people. But it's a crowded market and many pilots are on-going especially in auto manufacturing and E-commerce warehouse settings, according to The Robot Report.

CEO Bernt Øivind Børnich is earnest and refreshing in a sense, as most of the makers of Humanoid tend to be in China or the U.S.

In a release on the in-home test, Bernt Børnich, CEO at 1X, said, “Our priority is safety. Safety is the cornerstone that allows us to confidently introduce NEO Beta into homes, where it will gather essential feedback and demonstrate its capabilities in real-world settings."

The memes on X of the reactions to this demo are actually fairly funny.