1X NEO GAMMA, 2024—Ongoing
Unlike industrial robots, which operate in controlled environments, humanoid robots must interact with a world built for people: doors, stairs, kitchen counters, narrow hallways, shelving, and unorganized rooms.
1x Technology started building humanoid robots for the home in 2014. The fastest way to integrate machines into human life is to build them with the context of the home first.
In 2024, I worked with Dar from 1x to develop designs for Neo Gamma. At the time, development had largely been completed on the body. They wanted to work on the suit and the head to bring it to a level they felt would be ready for the home.
We spent a lot of time exploring suits for the robot.
As a semiotic, the head was particularly sensitive. The face mediates between human and machine, shaping expectations of interaction, presence, and trust. Neo’s role as a home assistant meant it needed to provide the user with clear visual cues about its activity. We started by exploring ways to use abstraction to help the robot emote.
Ultimately, we decided to keep the face neutral, using LED ears on either side of the head as indicators to signal presence, attention, and readiness. The ears provide a clear listening cue, shifts feedback away from the face, and helps demonstrate deference to the user.
Video by Vlad Petrenko
Neo Gamma launched on February 21, 2025, and has been busy meeting the world.
Image courtesy of the New York Times
On March 17, 2025, Neo gave Jensen Huang a custom ERL leather jacket.
Photo by Eli Russell Linnetz
Image remixed from ERL photoshoot by @ViewsandAllure with Gemini
On April 11, 2025, Neo gave its first TED talk:
The rise of companies like 1x demonstrates a new chapter for integrating machine intelligence into daily life. Neo’s impact won’t be in its mechanics, but in its eventual invisibility. When a humanoid folding laundry stops being a spectacle and becomes background noise, how much of our world will we be willing to share with them? If machines are an embodiment of intelligence, their dependability stands on our acceptance.
Image courtesy of 1x
CREDITS
1x Technologies: Bernt Bornich, Dar Sleeper, Eric Jang, Ralf Mayet
Art Direction: Dar Sleeper, Dennis Dang, Case Miller
Experience Design: Dennis Dang, Brando Vasquez
Web Development: Outkast Studio
3D: Vlad Pertrenko, Xusha Tkacheva
VFX: Alexey Marfin
Modeling: Vlad Bochko
Film: Fenn David
Music Production: Tyler Dopps, Jordan Santana, Nathan Miller, Jonathan Lee
Head Design: Joe Tsao (Body Shop)