1X Technologies

1X Technologies grew out of Norway's Halodi Robotics, founded in 2014, and is now a Norwegian-American company based in Moss and Sunnyvale. From the start it chose a different path from its competitors: instead of a humanoid for the factory, a robot for the home. In January 2024 the company raised USD 100 million in a Series B round led by EQT Ventures, and in August 2024 it unveiled NEO Beta. February 2025 brought NEO Gamma, with a slimmer construction adapted to domestic life; in May 2025 came the announcement of a production version, and in October 2025 pre-orders opened at USD 20,000, or USD 499 a month. In July 2026 the company showed details of the NEO hand: 25 degrees of freedom, tendon drive and near-human dexterity. One note of skepticism is key: according to reports from September 2026, there is still no confirmed delivery of a NEO to a customer, and the company's materials describe the first shipments in the future tense. This is a story about the vision of a home with a robot in it, and about the distance between a pre-order and reality.

The three variants are three stages of a single idea. 1X NEO from August 2024 was the pilot version: 165 cm, 30 kg, 75 degrees of freedom, 20 kg payload and 4 hours of runtime; it has since been retired. 1X NEO is the sales version of NEO: 168 cm, 30 kg, 25 kg payload, 4 hours of operation, intended for folding laundry, loading the dishwasher, handing over objects and helping in the kitchen; deliveries in the US were planned from 2026. 1X NEO is the pre-order model at USD 20,000, with tendon drive, a mass of 30 kg and a claimed payload of 68 kg. Tendon drive is explained in “Actuators in Humanoid Robots”, and the full product story in “1X Neo Home Robot on Pre-Order”. Thematically this belongs to the category “Home robots” and the use case homes, unlike most humanoids on our list, which are aimed at factories. The discrepancies in the data (a payload of 20, 25 and 68 kg across the three versions) show how young this market is: the maker is still settling on final parameters, and the pre-order figures should be treated as claims. The soft, tendon-driven construction is meant, in principle, to reduce the risk of injury in contact with people in the household.

1X has raised USD 1 billion in funding at a USD 10 billion valuation, with OpenAI capital among its backers, which distinguishes it from most competitors building home humanoids. Sales are so far a promise: pre-orders have been open since October 2025, but there is no confirmed delivery. Its rivals are Figure AI (home leasing of Figure 03 at USD 600 a month), Tesla with its plans for a home Optimus, and Unitree Robotics, which already sells cheaper humanoids today. 1X's biggest advantage is its focus on the home: the soft, tendon-driven actuation is meant to be safer around people than rigid gearing. Its weakness is the lack of hard evidence that it works in real homes. For an assessment of the market, see “Humanoid Robot Market Forecasts”. At USD 20,000 (or USD 499 a month) 1X sits among the most expensive home options, although the maker has the financial backing to survive delays. For comparison, several Chinese models cost less than half that amount.

NEO is not available in Poland or in Europe: none of the three models has a Polish distributor, and the pre-order applies to the US market. The maker gives no date for first deliveries to Europe. We also know of no Polish tests or universities working with 1X robots. Anyone who wants to check what can be bought today for a Polish home, or rented for a demonstration, should start with “How Much Does a Humanoid Robot Cost in 2026” and “Renting a Humanoid Robot for an Event”. A robot like this in the home would collect camera data, and we cover the related GDPR requirements in “Data Security: Robots with Cameras and the GDPR”.

1X NEO is the most interesting idea for a home humanoid and at the same time the most uncertain purchase. The USD 10 billion valuation and OpenAI capital are impressive, but the lack of a confirmed delivery and of availability in Europe says wait. Recommendation: watch, and do not put down a deposit without knowing when and how the robot will reach Poland. For a Polish user, the question of who will provide service and software updates on the European side will matter more than the robot itself.