1X Technologies
OpenAI's humanoid bet — NEO Beta brings tendon-driven safe actuation, 22-DOF hands, and Redwood AI to the home and workplace at $20,000. Singapore is the APAC gateway.
The OpenAI-backed humanoid designed for humans — not factories — arriving in 2026 at $20,000.
Founded in Norway and backed by OpenAI, 1X Technologies has taken a deliberately different approach to humanoid robotics: where most competitors target factory automation and industrial deployment, 1X is building for human environments — homes, offices, service settings — where physical safety around people is not a nice-to-have but a fundamental requirement. The company's philosophy is that a robot operating alongside humans cannot afford the stiff, high-torque actuators common in industrial humanoids. Instead, 1X uses tendon-driven actuation — cable-and-pulley systems inspired by human musculature that are inherently compliant, absorbing impacts passively rather than resisting them rigidly.
The result is NEO Beta: a 165 cm, 30 kg humanoid that is remarkably light for its capability level. It carries up to 70 kg and can handle 25 kg during locomotion, while operating at just 22 dB — quieter than a whisper. Its hands feature 22 DOF per hand, enabling manipulation dexterity that approaches human capability for a wide range of household and light industrial tasks. The robot runs on Redwood AI, a 160-million parameter VLA (Vision-Language-Action) model developed in-house, with connectivity across WiFi, Bluetooth, and 5G. Pre-orders opened in October 2025, with delivery scheduled for Q3 2026.
The Singapore APAC hub, established in 2023, positions 1X to serve the APAC market as NEO Beta moves from pre-order to delivery. Singapore's strategic location, English-speaking professional services sector, and government support for advanced robotics make it an ideal staging point for Southeast Asian and broader APAC distribution. For APAC investors and enterprise customers, 1X represents the clearest attempt yet to bring general-purpose humanoid robotics to the $20,000 price point — a potential inflection moment for mass market adoption.
Humanoid Robot Models
1X's flagship consumer and service humanoid. Tendon-driven actuation (compliant, safe for human proximity), 22 DOF per hand, 70 kg lift / 25 kg carry, dual 8MP fisheye cameras (180° FOV each), 4 microphones, Redwood AI (160M param VLA), 22 dB quiet operation. Pre-orders open Oct 2025, delivery Q3 2026.
Next-generation successor to NEO Beta, targeting full household autonomy — the ability to handle a wide range of domestic tasks without remote supervision or task-specific programming. Planned improvements include extended battery life, improved outdoor navigation capability, and expanded sensor suite for richer environmental understanding. Expected 2027 availability.
1X's earlier wheeled industrial humanoid platform, designed for structured factory environments where bipedal locomotion is not required. Features a wheeled mobile base for smooth factory floor traversal, 7-DOF arms for industrial manipulation tasks, and has been deployed in select Norwegian manufacturing facilities. Serves as the commercial foundation that funded NEO Beta development.
1X's Asia-Pacific headquarters, established in Singapore in 2023 with support from the Economic Development Board's Humanoid Robotics Attraction Fund. The hub coordinates APAC distribution for NEO Beta, manages regional partnerships, and interfaces with Southeast Asian enterprise customers. Singapore serves as the commercial and legal gateway for the NEO Beta pre-order rollout across the APAC region.
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