At the opposite end of the humanoid robot pricing scale, as far from a smartphone price as you can get, is the new 1X Neo home robot. Currently available for pre-order in the States, it’ll set you back R343,000 ($20,000) to stick this carpet-covered fellow into your residence.
Pre-orders require a deposit of roughly R3,500 ($200), with delivery to American homes that can afford the twenty-thousand-dollar price tag starting next year. Unlike Neotix’s Bumi robot, this guy is a lot larger and, supposedly, loads more capable. Why? Because it’ll have a human teleoperator.
Start to believe, Neo
1X’s robot is the second Neo we’ve seen this week, but this fabric-adorned robot doesn’t fly. The robotic home assistant stands 1.67cm tall, weighs 30 kilograms, and can lift up to 70kg. Carry weight is lower, at 25 kilograms. It’s being pitched as a home assistant, perhaps for the elderly, so these weights make sense. It’ll assist someone who has fallen, as long as they’re not a retired rugby prop, and can also carry drinks, meals, or medication. And, perhaps, the groceries from the delivery chap to the kitchen.
Your R343,000 payment (or your R8,600/m subscription) won’t buy a fully-capable Neo. It’ll perform some basic tasks via vocal or app commands, but owners are technically giving 1X’s robot some on-the-job training. Owners who need more advanced actions will schedule a human pilot who will come online and remotely pilot Neo around their home. This will count as ‘training’ for the robot, with the eventual aim of making it more autonomously capable.
There are, obviously, concerns about having a strange person peering at your home layout through a remote-controlled robot, but 1X says that its assistant can blur out human faces when piloted. Neo also can’t be taken over without its owner’s permission, but there’s always a risk that someone will find a way around the guardrails. Still, it’s an interesting concept for a home robot. Even if it still needs to be trained after you drop R350k on the bloody thing.
