Humanoid Robots for Home: What Figure 03, NEO and Optimus Offer

Humanoid robots for home use are real products you can reserve today, but none of them yet does your chores on its own. The most visible one, 1X's NEO, takes a $200 deposit, and its maker says a remote human "Expert" can step in for tasks it has not learned. Figure AI's newest robot, Figure 03, was designed with the home in mind, yet Figure has not published a consumer price or ship date. Tesla's Optimus has not been shown to the public at all.

What Is a Humanoid Robot for Home Use Today?

A humanoid is a robot with a torso, two arms, two hands and two legs, built so it can work in spaces made for people: stairs, door handles, kitchen counters. The idea is that one machine can do many chores without redesigning the house around it.

Figure AI introduced Figure 03 on October 9, 2025 as its third-generation robot, and the company says it was built for "Helix, the home, and the world at scale". Helix is Figure's vision-language-action model, an AI system that takes camera images and spoken instructions and outputs motor commands for the robot's arms and hands.

How Do Home Robots Like Figure 03 and NEO Actually Work?

Figure's announcement describes the hardware changes for home use. The company says the new camera system has twice the frame rate, one quarter of the latency and a 60% wider field of view per camera than the previous generation. Each hand has a camera in the palm for close-range views when the main cameras are blocked.

The fingertips carry tactile sensors that Figure says can detect forces as small as 3 grams. A tactile sensor is a touch-sensitive pad in the fingertip, so the robot can tell how hard it is squeezing an object. That matters for handling a glass or a piece of fruit, where grip strength is the whole problem.

Softness is the other theme. Figure says Figure 03 uses multi-density foam at pinch points and a soft textile covering, with washable parts that come off without tools. It also reports about 9% less mass than Figure 02. For charging, the robot steps onto a stand and charges wirelessly through coils in its feet at 2 kW, according to the company.

1X takes a different route. Its NEO page lists a height of 5'6", a weight of 66 lbs, an arm payload of 18 lbs, an 842 Wh battery and about four hours of runtime. It describes a chore list you set up and schedule, and a noise rating of 22 dB.

Can a Home Humanoid Robot Work on Its Own, or Is a Human Watching?

1X says NEO works autonomously by default. For chores it does not know, the company says a 1X Expert can supervise remotely at scheduled times to guide it. The same page lists FAQs on data sharing and how 1X uses data, so read those before ordering.

Teleoperation means a person controls the robot from somewhere else, using what the robot's cameras show. For an owner, that would look like this: you schedule a time, the robot meets a chore it has not learned, and a 1X Expert guides it through the task while the robot's cameras relay the room.

A summary from the AI consultancy Lightpath cites MIT Technology Review in February 2026 as saying 1X obtains the owner's consent before switching to remote control. It also cites a follow-up on October 8, 2026 reporting that a remote operator currently performs most of NEO's tasks.

The privacy question follows from that design. If a person can see through the robot's cameras, the robot is a camera inside the home with a human on the other end. It belongs on the checklist next to price. The same issue shows up with other always-on devices, as in this look at on-device phone AI and privacy.

How Much Do Humanoid Robots for Home Cost, and When Can You Buy One?

Price and timing vary most across the three.

• 1X NEO: The company's order page shows a $200 deposit and no price. Several review sites report two options, a $20,000 early-access purchase or a $499 monthly subscription. Those figures come from secondary coverage, and 1X lists 2026 as the target year for US deliveries. As of mid-October 2026, no first customer deliveries had been announced.
• Figure 03: Figure has published no consumer price, pre-order or waitlist.
• Tesla Optimus: Tesla has not unveiled its third-generation design. Per coverage of the 22 July 2026 earnings call, Tesla said first production lines were being installed, with production anticipated in 2026 and the first units going to internal training and development.

To compare the three on equal terms, a household would need an announced price, a delivery date and a first customer delivery for each robot, and only NEO has even a deposit page today. A Figure 03 or Optimus buyer has no order page to use at all.

Elon Musk gave a target of public sales by the end of 2027 at Davos in January 2026, according to trackers.

Who Is Building These Robots, and How Many Will Exist?

Figure says its BotQ factory line can initially build up to 12,000 robots per year and that it aims for 100,000 robots over four years.

On the industry as a whole, the Lightpath summary of MIT Technology Review's October 8, 2026 reporting cites about 15,000 humanoids shipped in 2025, roughly 90% from Chinese companies. It also cites Agility Robotics cofounder Jonathan Hurst estimating about ten years before robots do useful work in homes.

Tesla is the least transparent of the three. The analysis says Musk called Optimus the hardest product Tesla has tried to scale, and that Tesla declined to name a 2026 unit target. According to an analysis of its 2026 earnings calls, Tesla has published one hardware figure, 50 actuators per unit, and Musk has since said the mechanical design changed. The same analysis says numbers like a $30,000 price or a particular weight, which circulate widely online, have no Tesla source.

Are Humanoid Robots Safe to Have Around Your Family?

None of the three companies cites an independent safety certification for a home humanoid. What they do publish is design choices. Figure points to soft textile covers, foam at pinch points and multiple battery protection layers, and says its battery pack is certified to UN38.3, a transport safety standard for lithium batteries that covers shipping.

1X lists a 22 dB noise rating and a self-docking charger. Neither company has published test results for how the robot behaves around children or pets. Without test results, a buyer can compare soft covers and noise ratings but cannot compare how often a robot drops or bumps something.

What to Watch Next

The first confirmed NEO deliveries to paying customers matter most, along with what 1X says about how often a remote operator steps in. Figure could publish a consumer price, waitlist or ship date for Figure 03. Tesla could show Optimus V3 in public and say something about homes. An independent safety standard or third-party test for robots working near people at home would also change the picture.

For related robotics reading on this site, see how liquid neural networks help drones fly through storms.