The dream of having helpful robots around the house might finally be materializing. 1X’s NEO humanoid robots are demonstrating impressive capabilities thanks to their new RedWood AI model called VLA (Vision-Language-Action). These robots aren’t just tech demos anymore—they’re performing real household tasks like loading washing machines, picking up leaves, and responding to human needs in real-time.
What makes this development particularly exciting is the data flywheel effect. As NEO robots operate in actual homes, they encounter personalized, diverse, and complex environments, learning from human experiences. This creates a virtuous cycle where Redwood feeds NEO, which interacts with home environments, generating more data that improves Redwood further. This recursive improvement path (Redwood→NEO→Home/Outdoor→Redwood) represents a significant step toward more general artificial intelligence.
The physical capabilities are equally impressive. NEO demonstrates remarkably human-like movements—squatting to load laundry, bending to pick up garden debris, and even using its free hand to stabilize itself against a wall when opening doors. These natural movements suggest sophisticated balance and coordination systems that were previously challenging for bipedal robots. And according to CyberRobo, outdoor running capabilities are coming in the next update, potentially making NEO not just a household helper but an outdoor companion for family activities like camping trips.
