For $20,000, a humanoid robot can handle your household chores such as unloading the dishwasher and watering plants, yet it still requires assistance

For the cost of a fairly reliable used Chevy Malibu, you’ll soon be able to get a brand – new 5 – foot – 6 – inch humanoid robot to do your laundry folding. Robotics company 1X is taking preorders for Neo, which it says is the “world’s first consumer – ready humanoid robot.”

For $20,000—or a monthly rental fee of $499 with a six – month commitment—this tall and slender robot can perform simple household tasks like unloading the dishwasher and watering plants, and can answer your questions via its built – in large language model.

Different from those sleek, metal military dogs that are always doing acrobatic flips, Neo has a soft body and moves at a slow pace. The robot can carry around 55 pounds and can operate for four hours on a single charge.

Is Neo ready to be the Rosie of your family? Well, it sometimes topples over and still requires a great deal of human assistance. In fact, all the tasks Neo carried out in an interaction with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal were not done independently. If you want Neo to handle something complex like cleaning the bathroom or vacuuming, you’ll have to allow a 1X employee wearing a VR headset to remotely access the robot’s body (and cameras) to assist with training.

Neo is watching. 1X claims that safety measures are in place to safeguard your privacy, but there’s still a walking, talking robot with a camera in your home.—MM

This report was by .

A version of this story was published on on October 30, 2025.

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