Whatever happens next in home robotics, 1X has already claimed one milestone: it was the first company to open consumer preorders for a humanoid robot intended to live and work in an ordinary house. For UK readers the question is what that milestone actually means from this side of the Atlantic, and the answer needs more honesty than most coverage has offered.
This profile sets out who 1X is, what NEO is designed to do, what the announced commercial terms are, and what remains genuinely unknown, including everything that has not been announced for the UK.
The company
Who 1X is
1X Technologies is a robotics company with Norwegian roots and a significant US presence, and it has taken a deliberately different path from most of the humanoid sector. While rivals such as Figure and Agility Robotics have concentrated on industrial and warehouse deployments, 1X has aimed NEO squarely at the home. The company has attracted substantial investment, including backing linked to OpenAI in earlier funding rounds, and has been public about its ambition to put humanoid robots into households at consumer prices rather than industrial ones.
That focus matters for UK readers because the home is the hardest environment in robotics: unstructured, cluttered, different in every house, and occupied by children and pets. Any assessment of NEO has to hold two things at once. Opening consumer orders is a genuine first. Delivering a robot that copes with real homes, reliably, without a human in the loop, is a much taller order, and 1X itself has been more candid about that gap than the headlines around it.
The robot
What NEO is designed to do
NEO is a bipedal humanoid robot designed for household tasks: tidying, fetching and carrying, and general light chores. 1X has emphasised a design philosophy built around safety in shared spaces, describing NEO as lightweight and soft-bodied compared with industrial humanoids, with a tendon-driven approach intended to make contact with people less hazardous than rigid industrial actuation. It is operated and configured through an app, and 1X has framed the product as one that improves over time through software updates as its autonomy develops.
The most important capability caveat comes from 1X itself and from the reporting around the preorder launch: early NEO units will sometimes be assisted by remote human operators, with a 1X employee able to see through the robot's cameras and guide it through tasks its onboard autonomy cannot yet complete, subject to the scheduling and privacy controls 1X has described. The company presents this as a bridge while autonomous capability matures, and it is a defensible engineering strategy, but a UK buyer should understand clearly that "a robot that does your chores" currently means a blend of autonomy and human teleoperation, not a fully independent machine. As of September 2026, extended independent reviews of NEO performing in ordinary customer homes were not yet available, so real-world performance remains an open question rather than an established fact.
For the wider context on what any humanoid robot can genuinely do in 2026, in homes and elsewhere, see our capability guide: what can humanoid robots actually do?
The commercial terms
1X NEO price and preorder structure
The announced terms, which apply to the United States market, are unusually concrete by the standards of this sector.
| Item | Announced terms | UK position |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | 20,000 US dollars for early access purchase | No UK price announced |
| Subscription | 499 US dollars per month | No UK subscription announced |
| Deposit | 200 US dollars to reserve a place in the queue | No UK reservation route |
| First deliveries | United States, planned from 2026 | Not applicable |
| Other markets | 1X has said expansion is planned from 2027 onwards | UK not specifically named or dated |
Two honest notes belong next to that table. First, the subscription model is significant: at 499 dollars per month, NEO is priced closer to a premium car lease than a gadget, and the subscription route is how 1X expects many households to start. Second, announced preorder terms are not the same as proven delivery at scale. As of September 2026, reporting had not confirmed large numbers of NEO units operating in customer homes, and 1X's own material still described the rollout in forward-looking terms. That does not mean the programme is in trouble; it means the delivery phase is where the claims get tested, and that testing is still under way.
A UK buyer converting 20,000 dollars into sterling gets an indicative number, but not a price. Any eventual UK price would carry VAT and whatever distribution costs 1X builds in, and the company has given no signal either way. Our guide to humanoid robot costs in the UK explains how import costs and taxes stack up in general, and the estate-wide pricing tracker at humanoid robot prices in the UK keeps the whole market in one view.
The UK position
What UK households can do while NEO is US-only
The plain position: there is no UK order book, no announced UK date and no announced UK price. 1X has said expansion beyond the United States is planned from 2027, without naming the UK specifically. The sensible reading is that 2027 is the earliest realistic possibility for British orders, with no guarantee attached.
While waiting, three practical steps make sense. First, if your interest is a capable robot in the house rather than NEO specifically, understand what is genuinely available to UK buyers today, from research-grade humanoids to the far more mature single-task home robots: buying a humanoid robot in the UK covers the current reality, and the cheapest humanoid robots in the UK covers the budget end. Offers across the market are tracked at humanoid robot deals UK.
Second, if your interest is care or assistance for an older relative, be especially careful with the marketing around home humanoids. Nothing on sale or preorder today is a care robot in any clinically meaningful sense, and the considerations are different enough that we cover them separately at humanoid robots and elderly care in the UK.
Third, watch the comparison field rather than one company. Tesla's Optimus programme targets the same eventual household market from a very different starting point, and Figure has demonstrated domestic tasks with its third-generation robot without opening consumer orders. Our profiles of Tesla Optimus and the UK and Figure 03 and the UK cover both, and the directory's structured comparison of Figure 03 versus 1X NEO puts the two home-focused programmes side by side.
Common questions
Questions readers ask about 1X NEO in the UK
Can I buy a 1X NEO in the UK?
Not yet. 1X opened consumer preorders with deliveries planned to start in the United States, and has said it intends to expand to other markets from 2027 onwards. UK availability, UK pricing and a UK delivery date have not been announced as of September 2026.
How much does the 1X NEO cost?
In the United States, 1X has announced an early access purchase price of 20,000 US dollars, a subscription option of 499 dollars per month, and a 200 dollar deposit to reserve a place. No UK price exists, and a sterling equivalent would depend on the exchange rate, VAT and any distribution costs set when and if UK orders open.
What can the 1X NEO actually do?
1X positions NEO as a home robot for everyday chores such as tidying, designed as a lightweight, soft-bodied machine intended to be safe around people. 1X has been open that early units will sometimes be assisted by remote human operators for tasks the autonomy cannot yet handle. Independent long-term reviews of NEO in customer homes were not yet available as of September 2026.
When will the 1X NEO be released in the UK?
No UK date has been announced. 1X has said US deliveries would begin in 2026 and that expansion to other markets is planned from 2027. Whether the UK is in the first wave has not been stated, so 2027 at the earliest, with no guarantee, is the honest reading.
What to read next
Related guides
- A Humanoid Robot for the Home in the UK: What Is Realistic and When - the whole consumer question in one honest guide
- Tesla Optimus in the UK: Price, Release Date and What Is Actually Known - the rival programme with the biggest name and the least availability
- Figure 03 and the UK: What the Robot Does and Whether You Can Get One - the other home-focused contender, honestly assessed
- How Much Does a Humanoid Robot Cost in the UK? - pricing, import costs and subscription models across the market
- Figure 03 vs 1X NEO - the two home-focused programmes compared side by side