The Norwegian Startup of Robotics 1x plans to start the first tests of its humanoid robot, Neo Gamma, in “A few hundred to a few thousand” by the end of 2025, according to the CEO of the company, Bernt Børnich.
“Neo Gamma is entering the houses this year,” said Børnich in Techcrunch in an interview with the Nvidia GTC 2025. “We want to invite early adopters this year to help us develop this system. We want it to live and learn how to behave.”
In recent months, media threshing around humanoid robots for the house seems to have reached new heights.
Figure, a competitor based on the 1x bay region with an active presence on social networks, announced in February that it would also start home tests from his humanoid robots in 2025. Weeks later, Bloomberg reported that the figure was in talks for a $ 1.5 billion in fundraising to an assessment of $ 40 billion. OPENAI – A 1X investor – will also explore the construction of its own humanoid robots.
But putting heavy metal robots in peoples’ houses increases the challenges of the emerging industry. It is no different from startups of autonomous vehicles putting their robotaxis on the road. It can turn south – quickly.
However, Børnich is quite open to the fact that Neo Gamma is far from the commercial scale and autonomy.
While Neo Gamma uses AI to walk and balance, the robot is not entirely capable of autonomous movements today. To make home tests possible, Børnich says that 1x is “constantly evolving the process” by relying on teleoperators – humans in distant places that can see the cameras and sensors of Neo Gamma in real time, and take control of its members.
These home tests will allow 1x to collect data on the operation of Neo Gamma at home. The first adopters will help create a large set of precious data that 1x can use to form internal AI models and upgrade Neo Gamma’s capacities.
Although supported by Openai, Børnich says that 1X leads to its basic technology internally on AI technology today. The company also colors AI models “sometimes” with partners, including the above -mentioned Openai and Nvidia.
The collection of data from microphones and cameras inside people’s houses, then training of AI models on this subject raises a series of confidentiality problems, of course. In an email in Techcrunch, a company spokesperson said that customers can decide when an employee 1x can consult the Environment of Neo Gamma-whether for audit or teleoperation.
Unveiled in February, Neo Gamma is the first bipedal robot prototype that 1x plans to test outside the laboratory. Compared to Neo Beta, his predecessor, Neo Gamma presents an improved embedded model and a combination of knitted nylon bodies which aims to reduce potential injuries of robot-human contact.
During a GTC demo, 1x presented Neo Gamma’s ability to perform basic tasks in a living room – partially powered by a human operator. The robot aspira to the plants watered and walked in the room without bumping on people or furniture. However, it was not impeccable. At one point, the robot started to tremble, then collapsed in Børnich’s arms. A 1x employee blamed the spotted Wi-Fi in the conference room and the low battery.
Like the plans of figure, the details of the 1x early adoption program are far from clear. 1X has not yet revealed its strategy of marketing for Neo Gamma, although it has a Waiting list on your website. It is also difficult to imagine how the use of Neo Gamma at home will work without teleoperation. The spokesperson said 1X will provide a “more in-depth explanation” on a later date.
While a few hundred or a thousand people could try an early version and assisted by the man of Neo Gamma this year, it seems that we are still in several years of autonomous humanoid robots that you can simply buy on the shelf.
