A humanoid robot in a soft fabric suit folding laundry in a living room

10,000 People Ordered a $20,000 Home Robot. Here’s What They’re Still Waiting For

ByMr. Robot

A video called “10,000 People Bought NEO Home Robot. Now Tesla and Figure Want In” is making the rounds on YouTube. The headline sounds like home robots have arrived. The real story is a little different, and worth knowing before you put down your own deposit.

The 10,000 figure is real, but it counts orders, not robots in living rooms. According to its own factory update, 1X booked its whole first year of planned production within five days of opening orders in October 2025.

Partly built humanoid robots standing in rows in a factory hall
1X says its California factory can build about 10,000 robots a year. AI-generated image.

Ordering a NEO costs $200, owning one costs $20,000

NEO is a soft-suited humanoid robot from the company 1X. The company lists it at 5 feet 6 inches tall and 66 pounds. It says the robot runs about four hours on a charge and is quieter than a modern fridge.

To get in line, you pay a $200 deposit that 1X calls fully refundable. After that, you choose between two plans:

  • $20,000 to own it, with a three-year warranty and priority delivery (“Early Access”).
  • $499 a month as a subscription, with standard delivery.

So most of those 10,000 “buyers” have paid $200, not $20,000. Decrypt reported that buyers only learn the subscription term, cancellation rules and return process once they get an official order invitation.

The factory is running, but the first robots stay with 1X

On April 30, 2026, 1X said its factory in Hayward, California had started production. The plant covers about 58,000 square feet and employs more than 200 people. 1X says it makes its own motors, hands, battery packs and metal parts there.

1X puts its capacity at about 10,000 robots a year, counting a second site in San Carlos. That matches the first-year order book. But the company also said the first finished robots go to its own staff for testing in homes. Others are restocking parts inside the factory.

The order page still says only “US Deliveries start 2026.” As of October 19, the guide site Physical AI Lab could not find any 1X announcement of a first customer delivery. CEO Bernt Børnich has said, “We promised the first NEOs would ship in 2026, and we’re keeping that promise.” That leaves less than two months.

A person in a headset may still be doing the chore

NEO is meant to handle chores on its own. For jobs it has not learned, 1X says one of its staff, called an Expert, can steer it remotely at a time you book. The company says this helps the robot learn while the work gets done.

That matters for your privacy. When Wall Street Journal reporter Joanna Stern tested NEO in 2025, a human pilot wearing a virtual reality headset ran every task, Decrypt reported. Fetching a water bottle from a fridge about 10 feet away took over a minute. Loading a few dishes took more than five.

Børnich told the paper, “You have to be okay with this for the product to be useful.” 1X says it blurs people in the robot’s camera view. You can also mark rooms the robot must stay out of (“no-go zones”).

A remote operator in a VR headset looking at a robot's view of a kitchen
For chores NEO has not learned, a remote operator can take over at a booked time. AI-generated image.

Tesla and Figure are promising homes too, but later

The video’s second claim holds up: both rivals talk about homes. Figure’s chief executive, Brett Adcock, said in a May 2026 interview that you could lease a Figure 03 “for something like $600 a month.” He gave no launch date.

Tesla is further from your door. On its October 21 earnings call, Elon Musk said early production of the Optimus robot had started in Fremont, California. He expects to deliver to companies outside Tesla “towards the end of next year.” Homes come after that: “As we scale production, of course, it would be something that people can buy for their home.”

Our take: NEO is the only one of the three you can actually order today. But a $200 deposit buys a place in line, not a robot. If you are tempted, wait for the first owners’ reports on what NEO does without a remote pilot. Those should come soon if 1X keeps its 2026 promise.

Sources

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