$20,000 Humanoid Robot Will Do Your Chores, But There’s A Catch

The slick advert makes it look like the world is about to get real on robots.

Norwegian-American robotics firm NEO says its “safe humanoid robot” can automate everyday chores and offer personalized assistance.

It costs $20,000 (over £16,000) on pre-order, or you can sign up for a $499-a-month subscription (six-month minimum commitment). It’s coming in 2026.

The Neo Home robot can handle various household maintenance tasks it’s shown doing laundry, emptying the dishwasher, and vacuuming floors.

Now, most readers here will be thinking about what to do once they have their own robo-butler, but hang on! The robot needs to be controlled by a human in your home. There’s an 1X employee wearing a VR headset peering into your living room to manually control it.

The Wall Street Journal got to test the Neo and said it was “wild to watch” as “Neo nearly toppled over while closing the dishwasher, took two minutes to fold the shirt and twisted its arm attempting to dance the Macarena.”

“Oh, did I mention Neo had a human puppet master, controlling it with a VR headset?” it said.

“Just one hidden cost: your privacy. For now, you’ll need to be cool with a company representative potentially peering through the robot’s camera eyes to get chores done,” it wrote.

1X CEO and Founder Bernt Børnic told the publication: “If you buy this product, it is because you’re OK with that social contract. If we don’t have your data, we can’t make the product better.”

However Børnich said that in 2026, Neo “will do most of the things in your home autonomously.”

Not sure anyone wants a not-so-distant future where a robot in London is being “driven” by a worker in Manila earning £2 an hour to fold someone else’s laundry through a VR feed. Do you?