1X launches $20K Neo robot requiring human remote control for basic tasks

1X Technologies has launched Neo, a $20,000 “home robot” that requires full human remote control to perform basic household tasks. The company is openly asking customers to pay premium prices for a deliberately flawed product while providing training data to improve future versions—a strategy the CEO calls “robotics slop.”

What you should know: Neo isn’t actually autonomous despite being marketed as a home robot breakthrough.

• The fabric-wrapped humanoid is completely teleoperated by “1X Experts”—company employees in the US who control it remotely using VR headsets.
• Users pay $20,000 upfront or $500 monthly to essentially hire a stranger to operate a clunky robot in their home.
• The launch video garnered nearly 30 million views on X, but hands-on reviews quickly exposed significant limitations.

Performance issues: Wall Street Journal’s review revealed Neo struggles with the most basic household tasks.

• The robot “nearly toppled over” while closing a dishwasher and took two minutes to fold a single shirt.
• It had difficulty opening a refrigerator door, despite having a human operator controlling every movement.
• These failures occur even with direct human control, raising questions about the robot’s mechanical design.

The privacy trade-off: Customers must accept extensive data collection and remote monitoring as part of the service.

• 1X Experts can see through Neo’s cameras throughout your home, though users can restrict certain rooms and blur faces.
• All video feeds return to the company as training data for future AI development.
• “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,” CEO Bernt Børnich told the Wall Street Journal.

What they’re saying: Børnich defended the approach by comparing it to hiring traditional house cleaners and embracing mediocrity.

• He claimed Neo is “safer” than hiring a real house cleaner, despite the robot wearing cameras and storing detailed home footage.
• The CEO coined the term “robotics slop,” comparing Neo’s poor performance to AI-generated images with obvious errors.
• He expects customers to accept “good enough” performance until the technology actually becomes functional.

Why this matters: Neo represents a brazen shift in how tech companies position unfinished products to consumers.

• Rather than overpromising and underdelivering quietly, 1X is explicitly telling customers to pay premium prices for a broken product.
• The company is essentially crowdsourcing both funding and training data while providing minimal value in return.
• This “pay to be a beta tester” model could signal how robotics companies plan to monetize development phases traditionally handled internally.