Meet Neo, Your New Home Robot — There’s Just One HUGE Problem…

Ready for a home robot that will do all the chores around the house for you?

Meet Neo!

That’s exactly the sales pitch for this new home robot, a humanoid form-factor shipping in 2026 that promises to have all the chores around the house done for you while you go off and do other things.

Early access presales list the price as $20,000 upfront ….. OR ….. $499/month.

Here are some of the basic specs:

Sounds cool right?

This video launched last night and it took the Internet by storm….

Check out everything Neo can do:

Marques called it a ” hype reel for a thing that they’re hoping to be able to make someday” — OUCH:

So to be clear, this is a preorder for a humanoid home robot that will cost $20,000 or $500/month when it (maybe) ships next year, and currently is not finished. Joanna Stern got to do a demo in its current state, and 100% of its actions are tele-operated… https://t.co/pycm3gcRgJ

— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) October 29, 2025

The only problem?

Ummm, it’s a big one.

According to this video from the Wall Street Journal, while the 2026 robot is supposed to be fully automated, it’s currently not.  Like, not at all.  The entire thing is being remotely teleoperated by a human.

Can you say CREEPY?

Watch here:

So you put this Neo in your house and it can walk around and has eyes (cameras) and can see everything in your house….and is being operated by some guy somewhere in some random Call Center?  Allegedly?

Ummmmm, NO THANK YOU!

To be clear, the company says the actual units shipping in 2026 will be autonomous by default.

From the FAQ on the official Neo website:

So what’s a “1X Expert” you might ask?

That’s the human remote operator, tele-operating the robot from some other location.

But don’t worry, the FAQ says you are always in full control and they can’t just “take over”:

Look, I want a home robot for chores just as much as the next guy, but I am not letting some remote control dude take access of the bot and walk around and check out my whole house.

The Amazon Alexa is bad enough!

Oh, one other problem too….here’s what it looks like trying to load the dishwasher:

From @JoannaStern's great video review of the @1x_tech Neo of today (she makes it clear this isn't what's shipping in 2026).

For now, it's all remote operated and it's *still* struggling a little to do basic stuff.

This isn't crapping on it, it just that this stuff is HARD. pic.twitter.com/ySzbGSjvvh

— Gavin Purcell (@gavinpurcell) October 28, 2025

I saw someone described it as a super drunk guy trying to load the dishwasher and once you see it you can’t unsee it.

So bad!

Unless that SERIOUSLY improves, you’re probably better off saving your $20k and just loading the dishwasher yourself.