Before You Preorder a $20K Home Robot, There's Something You Should See - CNET
If that sounds enticing, preorders are now open (for a mere $200 down). You'll be signing up as an early adopter for what Neo's maker, a California-based company called 1X, is calling a "consumer-ready humanoid." That's opposed to other humanoids under deve...
Key takeaways
The most recent headlines on humanoid robots focus on a mix of high‑profile debuts and setbacks. In Moscow, Russia’s first AI‑driven humanoid, AIDOL, dramatically lost its balance and fell onstage during a technology showcase, an incident captured by multiple outlets on November 14, 2025. Meanwhile, Chinese electric‑vehicle maker Xpeng Motors unveiled its IRON robot at its AI Day in Guangzhou, highlighting an 82‑degree‑of‑freedom design with 22 degrees of motion in each hand and a plan to begin limited deliveries by 2026. In the United States, Tesla continues to push its Optimus prototype forward as part of a broader industry push toward household and service‑sector bots, while California startup 1X is opening pre‑orders for Neo, a consumer‑ready humanoid priced around $20,000 that can perform tasks such as loading a dishwasher and folding laundry. These developments illustrate both the rapid progress and the technical challenges still facing the emerging humanoid‑robot market.
If that sounds enticing, preorders are now open (for a mere $200 down). You'll be signing up as an early adopter for what Neo's maker, a California-based company called 1X, is calling a "consumer-ready humanoid." That's opposed to other humanoids under development from the likes of Tesla and Figure, which are, for the moment at least, more focused on factory environments. "Companies selling the dream of autonomous household humanoid robots today would be better off embracing reality and selling 'remote operated household help'," he wrote in a post on the X social network on Monday. See full bio
Connor Jewiss
4 min read
This robot stands 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighs about as much as a golden retriever and is nearly the price of a brand-new budget car.
This is Neo, the humanoid robot. It's billed as a personal assistant you can talk to and eventually rely on to take care of everyday tasks, such as loading the dishwasher and folding laundry.
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