1X will test humanoid robots in ‘a few hundred’ homes in 2025
Norwegian robotics Startup 1x is planning to start early tests of his humanoid robot, Neo Gamma, in “a few hundred to a few thousand” houses towards the end of 2025, according to the CEO of the company, Bernt Børnich.
“Neo Gamma is going to Huizen this year,” Børnich told WAN in an interview on Nvidia GTC 2025. “We want to invite early adopters this year to help us develop this system. We want it to live and learn among people, and we need people to bring people into their home and teach us how to have it.”
In recent months, the hype around humanoid robots for the house seems to have reached new heights.
Figure, a competitor of 1x with an active presence on social media based in Bay Area, announced in February that it would also start with home tests from his humanoid robots in 2025. Weeks later Bloomberg reported that figure was in conversation for one $ 1.5 billion fundraising with an eye-watery $ 40 billion rating. OpenAI – a 1x investor – is reportedly also investigated the construction of his own humanoid robots.
But placing heavy metal robots in people’s houses increases the commitment to the emerging industry. It is no different than autonomous vehicle startups that put their robotaxis on the road. It can turn south – fast.
However, Børnich is quite open about the fact that Neo Gamma is far away from commercial scaling and autonomy.
Although Neo Gamma AI used to walk and balance, the robot is not fully capable of autonomous movements today. To make in-home tests possible, Børnich says that 1x “The process is on the bootstrapping” by trusting teloperators people at remote locations that can view the cameras and sensors of NEO Gamma in real time and take over control over the limbs.
With these in-home tests, 1x can collect data about how Neo Gamma works at home. Early adopters will help make a large, valuable data set that can use once to train internal AI models and upgrade the possibilities of NEO range.
While he is supported by OpenAi, Børnich says that 1x today is training his core AI technology. The company also has “occasionally” AI models together with partners, including the aforementioned OpenAi and Nvidia.
Collecting data from microphones and cameras in people’s houses and then training AI models, of course, evokes a whole series of privacy problems. In an e -mail to WAN, a company spokesperson said that customers can decide when a 1x employee can view the Neo Gamma area -whether it is auditing or tel Operation.
Neo Gamma unveiled in February and is the first bipping robot prototype that is once planning to test outside the lab. Compared to Neo Beta, its predecessor, Neo Gamma has an improved AI model on board and a knitted nylon body suit that aims to reduce potential injuries due to robot-to-human contact.
During a demo at GTC, 1x showed the ability of Neo Gamma to perform some basic tasks in a living room – partly powered by a human operator. The Robot Stofziep, aquatic plants and ran through the room without encountering people or furniture. However, it was not flawless. At one point the robot started to shake and then collapsed in Børnich’s arms. A 1x employee blamed spotty WiFi in the conference room and a low battery.
Just like the plans of Figure, details about the early adoption program of 1x are far from clear. 1x has to reveal its go-to-market strategy for Neo Gamma, although it is one waiting list on her website. It is also difficult to imagine how the use of NEO Gamma will work at home without telephone operation. The spokesperson said that 1x will give a “more thorough explanation” at a later time.
Although a few hundred or thousand people may be able to try an early version of Neo Gamma this year, it seems that we have been removed from autonomous humanoid robots that you can simply buy from the shelf for many years.
