NEO may be the most contradictory humanoid on the planet. When 1X Technologies opened pre-orders in October 2025 at USD 20,000 a unit or USD 499 a month, the first year’s capacity sold out in five days and bookings passed 10,000. A year on, in September 2026, no unit is confirmed delivered to a ordinary consumer. Delivery has slipped to the first quarter of 2027.
The supply chain is the ceiling
1X runs a 58,000-square-foot factory in Hayward, California, with a first-year target of just 10,000 units and a goal of 100,000 a year by end of 2027. Vertical integration gives tight control over parts and supply, but ramp speed still lags the order backlog. The company is steering research toward a world model that learns new skills by watching internet video, skipping large robot datasets and teleoperation. Eric Jang, vice president of AI, put it plainly: a robot that can dance is cool, but useless if it can only dance at home.
NEO targets the home, the field most agree is the ultimate exam. Factories are structured; homes are not. 1X’s path is to gather data through remote control first, then hand off to autonomy.
Not alone in slipping
NEO is not the only humanoid to miss. Tesla’s Optimus line is still being installed and debugged, and prediction markets put the odds of commercial Optimus by end of 2026 at just 9 per cent. Figure AI is the only US company to pass 1,000 deliveries, but inside BMW factories, not homes. Home difficulty is a different order from factory: light shifts, objects move, children run.
The piece notes SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son reportedly offered USD 6 billion to acquire 1X, betting on the same future. The production hell 1X is living through is tuition every humanoid company will pay. 1X simply chose to open the exam paper in the hardest room first.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original OFweek Robotics report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience. The full original (in Chinese) is at https://robot.ofweek.com/2026-09/ART-8321203-8110-30701592.html.
Translated and adapted from OFweek Robotics (https://robot.ofweek.com/2026-09/ART-8321203-8110-30701592.html).