Robot maker 1X made a splash back in October when it opened preorders for its Neo humanoid robot for home use, not least because of its $20,000 price tag. Now it's making another splash with a deal for up to 10,000 of its humanoids to be deployed over the next five years.
Private equity firm EQT says it will facilitate getting thousands of 1X Neo humanoids into its portfolio companies to work with humans in areas such as manufacturing, facility operations and health care. The company confirmed in an email to CNET that the 10,000 robots will be Neo models using the same AI as the robots it's selling to the public.
A press release for the EQT deal says that 1X will launch pilots in the US in 2026, which is the same time frame the company gave for getting the first Neo units to customers.
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1X, based in Palo Alto, California, has also worked on industrial robots before introducing Neo. Stockholm-based EQT is an investor in 1X.
Preorders for Neo require a $200 down payment. For those who prefer not to own, a $499-per-month leasing option is available.
Neo stands 5 feet 6 inches tall and can lift 154 pounds. 1X has demonstrated its ability to perform household tasks, such as folding laundry and carrying groceries. Notably, though, in a demo witnessed by a Wall Street Journal reporter, Neo was not autonomous -- it required a remote human operator using a VR headset and controllers.
1X told CNET that Neo will arrive to customers with basic autonomy and will learn and develop new capabilities with continued use.
Financial terms for the EQT deal weren't disclosed. 1X and EQT said robots will be deployed to US partner companies first, for purchase or for leasing, and then to those in Europe and Asia.
Watch this: You Can Now Preorder Neo, the AI Humanoid Household Robot
A robotic future?
In a release, EQT Ventures said the deal will be part of a wave of mass-market robot adoption and is meant to address issues including labor shortages.
"This isn't about replacing people, it's about giving them superpowers," Ted Persson, lead partner at EQT Ventures, said in a statement. "By making 1X's technology available to our portfolio companies, we help them tackle labor shortages, improve safety, and unlock new levels of productivity in the industries that keep the world running."
1X is one of several companies aiming to mass-produce humanoid robots for business, household tasks and even boxing. Amazon is already utilizing robots in its warehouses, and it's anticipated that AI advances will help accelerate the global adoption of robotics.
Unitree, Apptronik, Boston Dynamics and Tesla are among the companies working on human-style robots.
Tesla has been trolled for a recent robot fail: At a public demo in Miami, one of its Optimus robots apparently knocked over bottles it was trying to pick up, then lost its balance and fell.