NEO Humanoid Demo: "Is That a Human in a Robot Costume?"

“Uh that’s fake right? That’s just a person in a robot costume moving slowly.”

That is the ultimate complement you can give a humanoid: you are so human-like!

The internet is buzzing about the recent videos released by 1X Robotics of the NEO Beta.

Skip the cute promo video showing the personality and human interaction. What is this thing capable of doing?

Why The Suit?

The most shocking part of this demo is the unique look compared to other humanoids. No exposed metal!

You would think that would make it appear more friendly, but the head choice isn’t exactly warm and welcoming.

Although by not giving it a face, they avoid this problem…

What are the Design Decisions?

The first thing to point out is the size. This humanoid is designed for in-home chores and they made some excellent choices for function and cost.

It is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs only 66 pounds!

That is shockingly light. The suit must cover thin metal limbs and torso. So thin that it wouldn’t look human-like. To create a human that tall and thin…

For in-home use, that is ideal. You want it to be safe, therefore should avoid a 200 pound robot that might fall over or occasionally need to be lugged around.

NEO can only lift and carry a 44 pound load. So excellent for household chores, but not the hero your grandma deserves.

Humanoid Hands are the Differentiator

If you watch the longer interview I wrote about last week or this 18 minute release video, you’ll notice a lot of emphasis on the hands and “tendon drive technology.”

What the heck does that mean?

Essentially, hands are so complex that it isn’t possible to achieve much strength if you put the motors in the hands themselves. There just isn’t enough space and they’d be too heavy. So you need to put the motors in the forearm and control the hands with tendons, just like humans.

To compare the robotics capabilities of different companies, just look at their humanoid hands!

However, hardware is less than half the battle. The ability to interact with the world is what really matters and that is software.

Until the humanoids are released to the real world or even research groups, it is difficult to judge the software capabilities. A demo isn’t very instructive, what really matters is how it learns a new space and new skills.

So keep reading and I’ll keep you updated!