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BETTESWORTHConstruction
1X

1X Planned to Test Humanoid Robots in Hundreds of Homes in 2025—What Happened?

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1X did not announce a mass consumer launch in 2025. On March 21, 2025, the Norwegian robotics company said it planned to place its NEO Gamma humanoid robots in “a few hundred to a few thousand” homes by the end of that year. The proposed program was an early, human-assisted field test intended to collect household data—not proof that autonomous humanoid robots were ready for everyday use.

As of August 18, 2026, the public record reviewed here does not confirm that the full target was reached. Later 1X updates discuss internal home testing and preparation for customer deliveries of a different product, NEO.

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What 1X actually announced

1X CEO Bernt Børnich told TechCrunch on March 21, 2025 that the company intended to test NEO Gamma in “a few hundred to a few thousand” homes by the end of 2025.

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The stated objective was to learn how a humanoid robot behaves in real domestic environments and gather information that could improve future autonomy. The proposed participants were early adopters who would help teach the system how to operate around the conditions that make homes difficult for robots: clutter, pets, children, narrow spaces, fragile objects and unpredictable human movement.

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Important details were not publicly established, including the final number of participants, locations, trial duration, selection process, compensation, insurance and the exact terms governing access to household data. The announcement should therefore be read as a planned early-access research program, not as a firm consumer delivery commitment.

What was NEO Gamma?

NEO Gamma was 1X’s home-oriented humanoid prototype and the successor to NEO Beta. In its February 2025 announcement, 1X highlighted:

  • a more consumer-focused design;
  • a knitted nylon suit intended to make physical contact less hazardous;
  • improved walking and balance;
  • the ability to squat, sit and pick up objects; and
  • general-purpose manipulation for household environments.

Those capabilities did not amount to a complete list of reliable household tasks. A robot shown performing a chore may still need favourable conditions, supervision, human setup or remote intervention.

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The central qualification: it was not fully autonomous

NEO Gamma could use AI for movement and balance, but the 2025 reporting made clear that it was not fully capable of autonomous movement. 1X expected remote human operators to view the robot’s cameras and sensors and control its limbs when necessary.

That creates three different operating modes:

  • Autonomous execution: the robot performs a task using its own software and sensors.
  • Supervised autonomy: the robot acts independently while a person monitors it and intervenes when required.
  • Teleoperation: a remote operator directly controls some or all of the robot.

A teleoperated trial is still valuable robotics testing. It can expose the system to varied homes and generate demonstrations for future training. But it is not equivalent to a robot independently managing a household. The operator is part of the service, alongside the hardware, AI, cloud infrastructure, connectivity and customer support.

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What the demonstration showed—and what it did not

The TechCrunch report described NEO Gamma vacuuming, watering plants and walking around a living room while avoiding people and furniture in the demonstration setting. The robot also shook and fell into Børnich’s arms after an apparent connectivity or battery problem; poor Wi-Fi and low battery were cited as possible explanations.

That incident is more informative than a polished chore demonstration. A home robot dependent on remote assistance must cope with broadband outages, latency, cloud-service failures, depleted batteries and operator availability. A successful demonstration shows that a task can be performed under particular conditions. It does not establish repeatable performance across hundreds of homes.

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Why homes are a harder test than factories

Construction and industrial sites are often dangerous, but they can be designed around known workflows, marked zones and specialised equipment. A house is less predictable. A household humanoid may encounter:

  • different floor surfaces, lighting and room layouts;
  • stairs, doors, cabinets and narrow passages;
  • glass, hot surfaces, sharp tools and electrical hazards;
  • pets and children moving unpredictably;
  • clutter and objects in unexpected locations;
  • people who enter the robot’s path without warning; and
  • social expectations about personal space and physical contact.

1X said home experience could help robots learn tasks such as opening doors for older people, moving around pets and adapting to changing surroundings. The same variety that makes the data useful also makes safety, reliability and verification much harder.

Privacy turns the robot into a connected service

A remote operator viewing a home through a robot’s cameras creates a different privacy risk from using a conventional robot vacuum or smart speaker. Potentially relevant information could include video, audio, sensor readings, room layouts, object locations, human demonstrations, task failures and records of operator intervention.

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TechCrunch reported that 1X said customers could decide when an employee could view the robot’s surroundings for auditing or teleoperation. However, the reporting did not provide a complete operational explanation of the system. The company’s legal materials indicate that a privacy policy applies, but they do not, by themselves, answer every practical question about remote viewing.

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Before a household accepted such a trial, it would need clear answers to questions including:

  • Can an operator see or hear the home in real time?
  • Is teleoperation scheduled, opt-in or automatically triggered?
  • Is there a physical indicator when remote viewing is active?
  • Can cameras and microphones be disabled?
  • How long are recordings retained, and can they be deleted?
  • Are faces, screens and documents blurred?
  • How are visitors, children and other residents informed?
  • Can the robot be restricted from bedrooms, bathrooms or other no-go zones?
  • Where is data processed and stored?
  • What happens if an operator account or communications link is compromised?

These are not secondary product details. If a human must occasionally drive the robot, privacy and security are core operating requirements.

Did the promised few-hundred-home test happen?

The careful answer is that the plan was announced, but completion of the full target has not been publicly established in the evidence available here.

  • Announced: March 21, 2025.
  • Planned scale: a few hundred to a few thousand homes by the end of 2025.
  • Publicly verified completion: no confirmed final participant count was established as of August 18, 2026.

In an April 2026 factory update, 1X described current units as being prioritised for internal development and home testing while the company prepared for customer deliveries. That is not the same as publishing evidence that the 2025 NEO Gamma target was achieved.

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Accordingly, it would be misleading to say that 1X deployed hundreds of autonomous robots into homes. The defensible statement is that 1X announced an ambitious home-testing plan involving early adopters and remote assistance.

From NEO Gamma to the later NEO product

1X’s development continued after the Gamma announcement:

  • August 30, 2024: 1X unveiled NEO Beta, a home-oriented humanoid prototype.
  • February 21, 2025: 1X introduced NEO Gamma.
  • March 21, 2025: the company’s planned home-testing scale was reported by TechCrunch.
  • June 10, 2025: 1X described Redwood, a vision-language model intended for NEO and mobile manipulation tasks.
  • October 28, 2025: 1X opened pre-orders for a later product called NEO.
  • April 30, 2026: 1X said it was prioritising current units for internal testing while preparing for customer deliveries.

The later NEO should not be conflated with the 2025 NEO Gamma pilot. 1X’s official order information lists a $20,000 ownership option, a $499-per-month subscription and a $200 refundable deposit, with U.S. deliveries planned for 2026. Those prices belong to the later NEO product, not necessarily to Gamma test units.

1X also says its Hayward factory can produce up to 10,000 NEOs annually, with planned expansion toward more than 100,000 annually by the end of 2027. Those are company production-capacity claims, not independently verified output figures.

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What would count as a successful home deployment?

For a household humanoid to move beyond impressive demonstrations, 1X would need to show more than videos of selected tasks. Useful evidence would include:

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  • the percentage of tasks completed without intervention;
  • operator interventions per hour or per task;
  • falls, collisions and other safety incidents;
  • battery runtime under ordinary household use;
  • recovery behaviour after a fall or connectivity outage;
  • performance over weeks rather than minutes;
  • results across different layouts, flooring, lighting and household routines;
  • clear limits around children, pets, stairs, hot surfaces and sharp objects;
  • repair rates and maintenance requirements; and
  • the cost of human assistance per useful hour of work.

These measures matter because a robot can be technically capable yet commercially impractical if users must repeatedly clear paths, correct mistakes, supervise tasks, recharge it or permit remote access.

How 1X fits into the wider humanoid market

1X’s home-first strategy differs from companies whose humanoid efforts have been more closely associated with factories, warehouses or other structured environments. Contemporary coverage has also discussed Figure AI, Agility Robotics, Apptronik, Boston Dynamics and Tesla in the broader humanoid market. Figure separately announced plans for home alpha testing in 2025, but announced testing should not be confused with broad consumer availability.

Industrial robots may mature faster in controlled workplaces, while home-focused systems face more varied environments and stricter privacy expectations. Neither approach, on the evidence cited here, establishes that a broadly available, fully autonomous household humanoid is already a conventional consumer appliance.

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Bottom line

1X’s 2025 announcement was significant because it proposed moving humanoid-robot testing from demonstrations and controlled facilities into real homes. But NEO Gamma was an early research platform, not a mass-market appliance: it was not fully autonomous, could require remote human control, and raised unresolved questions about safety, connectivity, privacy and economics.

The company said it aimed for a few hundred to a few thousand homes by the end of 2025. As of August 18, 2026, the public evidence reviewed here does not confirm that the full target was reached. The later NEO pre-order program marks a further stage of development, not proof that the original Gamma deployment was completed or that household humanoids have achieved appliance-level reliability.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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