Technologies

A $20K Humanoid Robot to Help Around the House? The Price Isn’t the Only Caveat

The new Neo robot from 1X is designed to do chores. It’ll have to learn a lot from you — and about you.

It stands 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighs about as much as a golden retriever and costs near the price of a brand-new budget car.

This is Neo, the humanoid robot. It’s billed as a personal assistant you can talk to and eventually rely on to take care of everyday tasks, such as loading the dishwasher and folding laundry.

Neo doesn’t work cheap. It’ll cost you $20,000. And even then, you’ll still have to train this new home bot.

If that sounds enticing, preorders are now open (for a mere $200 down). You’ll be signing up as an early adopter for what Neo’s maker, a California-based company called 1X, is calling a «consumer-ready humanoid.» That’s opposed to other humanoids under development from the likes of Tesla and Figure, which are, for the moment at least, more focused on factory environments.

Neo is a whole order of magnitude different from robot vacuums like those from Roomba, Eufy and Ecovacs, and embodies a long-running sci-fi fantasy of robot maids and butlers doing chores and picking up after us. If this is the future, read on for more of what’s in store.

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What the Neo robot can do around the house

The pitch from 1X is that Neo can do all manner of household chores: fold laundry, run a vacuum, tidy shelves, bring in the groceries. It can open doors, climb stairs and even act as a home entertainment system.

Neo appears to move smoothly, with a soft, almost human-like gait, thanks to 1X’s tendon-driven motor system that gives it gentle motion and impressive strength. The company says it can lift up to 154 pounds and carry 55 pounds, but it is quieter than a refrigerator. It’s covered in soft materials and neutral colors, making it look less intimidating than metallic prototypes from other companies.

The company says Neo has a 4-hour runtime. Its hands are IP68-rated, meaning they’re submersible in water. It can connect via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 5G. For conversation, it has a built-in LLM, the same sort of AI technology that powers ChatGPT and Gemini.

The primary way to control the Neo robot will be by speaking to it, just as if it were a person in your home.

Still, Neo’s usefulness today depends heavily on how you define useful. The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern got an up-close look at Neo at 1X’s headquarters and found that, at least for now, it’s largely teleoperated, meaning a human often operates it remotely using a virtual-reality headset and controllers.

«I didn’t see Neo do anything autonomously, although the company did share a video of Neo opening a door on its own,» Stern wrote.

1X CEO Bernt Børnich told her that Neo will do most things autonomously in 2026, though he also acknowledged that the quality «may lag at first.»

What you need to know about Neo and privacy

Part of what early adopters are signing up for is to let Neo learn from their environment so that future versions can operate more independently.

That learning process raises privacy and trust questions. The robot uses a mix of visual, audio and contextual intelligence — meaning it can see, hear and remember interactions with users throughout their homes.

«If you buy this product, it is because you’re OK with that social contract,» Børnich told the Journal. «It’s less about Neo instantly doing your chores and more about you helping Neo learn to do them safely and effectively.»

1X says it’s taking steps to protect your privacy: Neo listens only when it recognizes it’s being addressed, and its cameras will blur out humans. You can restrict Neo from entering or viewing specific areas of your home, and the robot will never be teleoperated without owner approval, the company says.

But inviting an AI-equipped humanoid to observe your home life isn’t a small step.

The first units will ship to customers in the US in 2026. There is a $499 monthly subscription alternative to the $20,000 full-purchase price, though that will be available at an unspecified later date. A broader international rollout is promised for 2027.

Neo’s got a long road ahead of it to live up to the expectations set by Rosie the Robot in The Jetsons way back when. But this is no Hanna-Barbera cartoon. What we’re seeing now is a much more tangible harbinger of change.

Technologies

November Nights Will Dazzle with Three Meteor Showers. Here’s How to Watch Like a Pro

You won’t need binoculars or a telescope, but you will need to get away from urban and suburban lights.

Get ready for an active November, skygazers. The month features three annual meteor showers — the Northern Taurids, the Southern Taurids, and the Leonids — two of which are already active. Northern Taurids started on Oct. 20, and Southern Taurids — one of the longest meteor showers of the year — began on Sept. 20. Leonids are expected to start on Nov. 6.

Even though two of these meteor showers are already in progress, the best parts of each are still to come. All three showers peak during November. And while these showers aren’t as prolific as the biggest ones, including August’s Perseids and January’s Quadrantids, you can still marvel at meteors with a bit of luck and some tips we’ll provide.

Not everyone understands what a meteor shower actually is, but it’s fairly simple. Shooting stars are a common occurrence in space around planet Earth. According to NASA, 48.5 tons of meteoritic material hit Earth’s atmosphere every year. Sometimes, enough of that material comes from the same spot, and we humans refer to those as meteor showers.

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Southern Taurids: The longest one

The Southern Taurids shower lasts for two months, making it one of the longest meteor showers of the year.

Southern Taurids is scheduled to peak on the evening of Nov. 4 into Nov. 5, and should spawn upwards of five meteors per hour during that peak. Southern Taurids is known for its increased chance of fireballs, which are meteors that are brighter than most. According to some reports, these fireballs can be brighter than the planet Venus when they streak across the night sky.

All meteor showers are named for the constellations where they appear to originate, a spot known as the radiant. For the Southern Taurids, the radiant is in the Taurus constellation near the Pleiades star cluster, so that is where you’ll want to look for them. Taurus will be visible in the eastern sky shortly after sunset and end its evening in the western sky as the sun rises.

Northern Taurids: Peaks later than its sibling

The Northern Taurids meteor shower is set to peak on Nov. 11 and 12. It’s identical to the Southern Taurids, only with a later peak date. The origin point will be the Taurus constellation, producing an average of five meteors per hour with an increased chance of fireballs.

Leonids: The most active

Of the three November meteor showers, Leonids should be the most active. It is fed by the Tempel-Tuttle Comet, which can produce some dense debris clouds, resulting in very strong showers. Leonids is set to peak on Nov. 16-17.

Some sources say as many as 15 visible meteors per hour is possible, while NASA estimates a more conservative three per hour under dark skies. It’s impossible to know for sure how active this shower will be until the peak occurs..

As the name implies, Leonids will appear out of the Leo constellation. Leo is visible in the eastern sky between midnight and 1 a.m. local time.

Per the American Meteor Society, Leonids has produced some intense meteor showers as recently as 2002, but isn’t scheduled to do so again until 2031, 2064, and 2099 as the comet returns to the solar system. During these rare meteor storms, NASA says that it’s possible to see upwards of 1,000 meteors per hour.

Tips for watching meteor showers

Here are some tips and tricks that will help increase your odds of spotting a meteor in November.

Get away from light pollution

This is the most important guideline to follow. Simply put, city lights make meteors harder to see.

«Light pollution will definitely hamper your viewing of meteors,» Michelle Nichols, director of public observing at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, told CNET. «The more light pollution you are under, the fewer meteors you’ll see.»

Nichols says that unfavorable conditions can reduce the number of meteors you see by upwards of 75%.

Head to the countryside and find a spot that is as dark as possible. (There are other sources of light pollution that humans can’t do anything about, like the moon.)

The Southern Taurids peaks during November’s full moon, which is also a supermoon, meaning it shares the maximum amount of light pollution you can get from the moon. If you’re going to skip any of these showers, the Southern Taurids is probably the best choice. The other two showers will have much more favorable celestial conditions.

Don’t take any equipment

Meteor showers typically have an origin point, but you won’t need binoculars or telescopes.

«You want to just use your eyes,» said Nichols. «Binoculars or telescopes both look at ever-smaller pieces of sky, and you want to be able to look around at the entire sky.»

Meteors are very fast, and a magnification device may obstruct your ability to see the whole path. Nichols says that Taurids meteors tend to travel at 17 to 18 miles per second while Orionids may travel as fast as 41 miles per second.

Also, meteors don’t last for a long time.

«Look for short-lived, quick streaks of light,» Nichols says. «Meteors tend to last a fraction of a second to maybe a few seconds for the longer-lived ones.»

Nichols also notes that much of the material falling to Earth’s surface is «only about the size of a grain of sand.» As such, the streak humans often see isn’t the meteor itself, but rather the «glowing, superheated air that surrounds that bit of comet material» as it plummets toward Earth.

Dress for the occasion

Unless you live in the Deep South, it’s likely to be cold outside in November. Dressing for the occasion means you’ll be able to stay out longer, even if it’s chilly.

«When you go outside, dress warmly in layers, even if it’s not terribly cold where you are,» says Nichols. «You’ll be out there for a while, and at night, you may easily get chilled, especially if it’s damp out.»

Nichols recommends bringing an extra chair to put your feet on to keep them off the cold ground, especially if it’s wet, and also recommends against drinking alcohol, which causes blood vessels to dilate, causing the body to lose heat faster.

Patience is a virtue

The phrase «it’s a marathon, not a sprint» is about as apropos as it gets for meteor watching. Showers are unpredictable, and every number you’ve seen in this article or elsewhere online is essentially an estimate. You’ll want to make sure to give yourself as much time as you can to get settled.

«Give your eyes at least 20-30 minutes to adjust to the darkness,» Nichols advises. «You may not see meteors right away. And when you do, they’ll be sporadic.»

If it were easy to spot meteors, then it wouldn’t be special. You can help yourself by reducing your phone screen brightness to its lowest setting to preserve your night vision, and by using flashlights, not big camping lanterns.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, Nov. 2

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 2.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? A few clues are tricky. Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: State with more pigs than people
Answer: IOWA

5A clue: Sporcle offering
Answer: QUIZ

6A clue: Facial cavity that can become congested
Answer: SINUS

7A clue: Jamaican style of preparing chicken
Answer: JERK

9A clue: On the ocean
Answer: ASEA

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Geniuses have high ones
Answer: IQS

2D clue: Kind of board whose name is trademarked by Hasbro
Answer: OUIJA

3D clue: Drinks kept in a cellar
Answer: WINES

4D clue: Sky-blue
Answer: AZURE

7D clue: Reggae relative
Answer: SKA

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Nov. 2, #405

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Nov. 2, No. 405.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tricky one. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Sports where you need a certain piece of equipment.

Green group hint: Do very well.

Blue group hint: Football position.

Purple group hint: Fore!