1X has introduced Redwood AI, a breakthrough artificial intelligence model designed to enhance the autonomy of its NEO humanoid robot, enabling it to perform household chores and understand its environment more deeply.
Redwood AI represents a significant advancement in NEO's autonomous capabilities, enabling the humanoid robot to learn from real-world experiences and adapt to home environments. The AI model allows NEO to perform tasks like vacuuming, watering plants, and carrying objects up to 44 pounds12. Unlike traditional robots that follow rigid programming, Redwood AI employs embodied learning, meaning NEO improves through interaction with its surroundings2.
The system combines autonomous operation with human oversight through a remote control feature that allows operators to intervene when NEO encounters challenges2. This hybrid approach ensures safety while collecting valuable training data from human demonstrations. As explained in a TED talk by Bernt Børnich, "As we have an increasing number of these robots throughout homes, living among us and learning, more and more of this becomes autonomous until hopefully, one day, all of this will be fully autonomous."3 The Redwood AI model represents a crucial step toward 1X's vision of having NEO function as a true home assistant rather than just a technological showcase.
Norwegian robotics startup 1X is taking a bold step by launching in-home trials of its NEO Gamma humanoid robot in 2025. The company plans to deploy the robot in "a few hundred to a few thousand" homes by year's end12. These trials will initially feature human teleoperators remotely controlling NEO Gamma's functions, allowing the robot to integrate into household environments while maintaining human oversight for safety and learning purposes21.
NEO Gamma stands out from competitors with its home-centric design featuring soft-knit coverings for safety, multipurpose whole-body controller for natural movements, and specialized adaptability for domestic spaces34. Unlike other humanoid robots from companies like Boston Dynamics and Figure that prioritize industrial applications, NEO Gamma is specifically designed for household tasks such as making coffee, doing laundry, and vacuuming53. This home-first approach makes 1X unique among its peers, though the company acknowledges that commercial scaling and widespread deployment remain "some way off"65.
NEO is designed to tackle a wide range of household chores, positioning it as a comprehensive home assistant rather than a specialized device. The humanoid robot can perform tasks including vacuuming, tidying clothes, making coffee, wiping windows, carrying laundry, and even collecting groceries from its owners' hands.12 With its human-like mobility, NEO can squat to pick up objects from the floor, sit in chairs, and move with natural gait and arm swings, making it adaptable to various domestic environments.1
Unlike single-purpose devices such as robot vacuums, NEO represents a shift toward versatile home automation. The robot learns by observing how people perform tasks and then mimics these actions, using reinforcement learning from human motion capture data that runs at 100 Hz.1 This approach allows NEO to handle objects it hasn't encountered before and adapt to new environments. While 1X CEO Bernt Børnich acknowledges there's "still some way to go" before these robots become commonplace, he envisions a future where humanoid robots like NEO give people "back a lot of time in life" by handling routine household duties.32
