1X begins full-scale production of the NEO home humanoid.

1X Technologies kicked off full-scale production of NEO, its consumer home humanoid, at the end of April 2026, moving the tendon-driven robot from a pre-order curiosity toward actual living rooms. The company is prioritizing U.S. deliveries in 2026 before expanding to other markets in 2027, and is selling NEO two ways: a $20,000 outright 'Early Access' purchase with priority delivery, or a $499-per-month subscription that ships later. 1X reported booking 10,000 pre-orders within days of opening the order book.

NEO is the first credible attempt to put a full-size humanoid into the home at a car-like price, and the manufacturing ramp is the moment that ambition gets tested against reality. The robot's soft, textile-covered design and 1X's patented Tendon Drive are engineered to reduce the pinch-and-crush hazards that make rigid industrial humanoids unsuitable for households, and the company frames NEO as growing in capability through over-the-air software updates rather than shipping fully autonomous on day one.

The catch that dominated coverage is teleoperation: early NEO tasks are expected to be assisted, at least in part, by remote human operators, which raises real questions about privacy, latency and what customers are actually paying for. That tension — a 'consumer-ready' robot that still leans on humans in the loop — is the defining friction of the home-humanoid category in 2026, and NEO is the first product forcing buyers to weigh it. For the market, 1X starting real production establishes the consumer segment as a live commercial race alongside the industrial deployments at Figure, Apptronik and Agility, rather than a someday concept.