X1 To Build Humanoid Robots For Homes After Meta's Move, As China Creates Bionic Robots

Recently, we reported that VDMA Robotics, the largest networking organization for the robotics industry in Europe, found that China was making massive progress in the field of robotics.

As such, its rapid expansion has seen it surpass Germany and Japan in industrial robotics to become the leader of the industry, boasting 470 robots per 10,000 employees, as compared to Germany at 429, Sweden at 347, and the European average standing at 142 robots per 10,000 employees.

The research called for European policymakers, national governments, and EU institutions to adjust regulations to promote the robotics industry, invest more in the field, and incentivize companies engaging in automation.

While any resultant amendments to policies may take a while to swing into effect, the European robotics industry just got a massive boost courtesy of Norwegian robotics firm 1X.

1X just unveiled its latest home robot, NEO Gamma, which ushers in the next generation of home humanoids equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) technology and improved NEO hardware, as well as “a new design that is deeply considerate of life at home.” That is as per a news release published by the company.

Key improvements made to NEO Gamma include a minimalistic consumer-friendly design, improved communication capabilities, and a new in-house language model that enables natural conversation and body language, as well as the ability to pick a wide range of objects in different scenarios.

As per the company, the robot has been designed to be able to “walk with a natural human gait and arm swings, squat down to pick things up from the ground, and sit in chairs.”

The robot is outfitted with soft covers, which helps reduce its impact on the surrounding environment and increase safety.

“There is a not-so-distant future where we all have our own robot helper at home, like Rosey the Robot or Baymax. But for humanoid robots to truly integrate into everyday life, they must be developed alongside humans, not in isolation,” said Bernt Børnich, the CEO of X1.

“With NEO Gamma, every engineering and design decision was made with one goal in mind: getting NEO into customers’ homes as quickly as possible… We’re close. We can’t wait to share more soon.”

This move brings X1 one step closer to creating fully autonomous humanoids.


On the other hand, X1 may face stiff competition from social media and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) leader Meta, as the company is reportedly set to enter the arena with its own line of humanoid robots designed for household chores.

We already reported that Meta is expected to establish a new division within its Reality Labs to develop AI-powered humanoid robots that can execute physical tasks, as per an internal memo.

However, Meta is at least two years away from any such launch, as per reports. Furthermore, this move may come in the form of Meta providing OEMs with the necessary sensors and AI software for them to then manufacture the robots. For this, Meta is in talks with Unitree Robotics and Figure AI Inc.

U.S.-based Figure AI recently announced it was ending its collaboration deal with OpenAI. Following this, the company unveiled its commercial-ready, AI "hive-mind" humanoid robot Helix. The robot is capable of doing anything it’s told to, even if it hasn’t been trained for it before. This includes picking up objects it has never seen before. This is because the robot leverages vision language model (VLM) combined with its ability to understand semantic knowledge.

Ahead of this, Figure AI’s Helix can span two robots simultaneously and work collaboratively with both.

As we already noted China is the current leader in robotic deployments, having developed numerous robotic systems inspired by humans and animals.

Now, researchers and computer scientists from the country have created a new robot that is designed using piezoelectric materials—a class of materials that generate an electric charge when exposed to mechanical stress.

So far, this new robot has only been introduced in a paper published in the Journal of Bionic Engineering, but it won’t be long before the country converts this dream to reality.

“The piezoelectric robot achieves linear motion, turning motion, and turning motion with varying radii using a voltage differential driving method. A prototype was built, weighing 38 grams and measuring 150 × 80 × 31 mm³,” said the researchers.

The new robot, which is an H-shaped bionic piezoelectric robot (H-BPR) consisting of four legs connected by three piezoelectric beams, mimics the running gait of Cheetah to generate electricity by harnessing the bending vibrations of the piezoelectric beams.

Do you think X1’s move with its new household chore-bound humanoid robot will kick up increased investment in the robotics sector as advised by VDMA Robotics? Do you think the company will face competition from Meta who is also looking to enter people’s homes similarly, or will China surprise the world with something truly unique?

Let us know in the comments below!