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  • Hacker News
  • I ordered one. They have nailed all the right things in my opinion:

    1. Remote teleop with transfer learning

    2. Quiet operation (nobody else is doing this)

    3. Pulley based hands

    For that price, absolutely

    Plus I have epilepsy and live alone so this might just save my life

  • Wouldn’t something like an Apple Watch be much more reliable for alerting emergency services in case of seizure, given that fall detection is an actually advertised feature of it?
  • Keynote / Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTYMWadOW7c.

    Mind blowing.

  • Incredible technology, but that was an insufferable video. Still very cool, I might preorder one!
  • What part blows your mind?
    by xnx
  • Big chic houses with designer furniture and people driving in Porsches. At least they have a good idea of the potential market.
  • Good video of how the hardware actually works from the WSJ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3c4mQty_so
    by xnx
  • Literally 5 seconds in and the first claim is already wrong.

    "For 20k$, you can pre-order one now"

    The pre-order is only $200

    But yes, it gives a good perspective about what's the state of the robot right now

  • I feel like they should target commercial applications first before worrying about trying to get into people's homes.

    It would seem like the ideal target for this would be say a hotel operator. A team of these could clean a large number of rooms on an unoccupied floor of a hotel at once. Even if this was tele-operated remotely, this seems like it could be particularly beneficial for hotels in remote locations where its harder to hire people locally.

  • I tried to search for what the acronym "Neo" is based on but no luck. Maybe it's a cinematic reference that got assigned in development and stuck. I don't know.

    But it did remind me of my friend Ben Skora and his robot AROK. Fabricated in his garage using sheet metal (Ben rebuilt cars), power window motors, dryer vent pipe for arms, a Richard Nixon halloween mask inside a motorcycle helmet, two car batteries and wheels as shoes, bicycle brake clamps covered with rubber gloves as hands, a front panel of lights that blinked, and miles of wiring that never worked 100%.

    The whole system was analog. Tones from two princess phone keypads controlled the motors and he could talk and listen remotely (20 ft away) using a hacked set of walkie-talkies. Don't ask me how.

    AROK was built in ~1971-1973 and now resides inside a glass case at the Moraine Valley Community College Technology Building. [1]

    He built AROK to help around the house, do chores, walk the dog, etc.

    [0] https://cyberneticzoo.com/robots/1975-arok-ben-skora-america...

    [1] https://www.morainevalley.edu/news-story/arok-the-robot-roll...

  • “Review”
  • Oof. The roomba guy said that the form factor of robots inform customer expectations. I keep thinking about that and wincing when I see these humanoid robots. Even if there's impressive engineering that goes into them, people are going to expect they can do human things. When they can't, they're going to be disappointed.

    I expect my robot vacuum to vacuum the floor, because it's a little wheeled disc on the floor. It's not going to be able to cook for me. But this thing? Yea, it should cook for me.

  • Form factor isn't what is important. What is important is the jobs it gets done. If it can do useful jobs we will accept the form factor. Roomba doesn't look like any other vacuum I've never owned, but it gets the floors clean so we learn that form factor means clean floors.

    Humanoid only seems useful if it can do stairs - something many form factors fail at. Though I'd expect a centaur form factor could do stairs better and probably is cheaper.

  • I'm wondering how many people will attempt to get it to give them a handjob. After all, the form factor does have hands.
  • Looks like a Dr Who villain and a Bluetooth speaker had a baby.
  • Cybertooth
  • Hahah,some things can't be unseen...
  • My first thought was that it looked like Isaac from The Orville.
    by jzb
  • It leans so far into the "infantile, plush, can't hurt anyone" aesthetic that it feels like a horror movie prop.
  • It actually is a Bluetooth speaker:

    > Use NEO as a mobile bluetooth speaker anywhere in your home.

  • I read your comment before seeing the robot and that blank stare from those beady eyes made me lose it.

    Truly it does look like that.

  • > For any chore it doesn’t know, you can schedule a 1X Expert to guide it, helping NEO learn while getting the job done.

    Is this a humanoid robot that's controlled by someone in a call center remotely doing your laundry?

    Putting aside ethical reservations about how much they are probably paying per task, that feels like wash and fold with extra steps.

  • >with extra steps

    That one doesn't have to do, hence the appeal.

  • mechanical turk. fake it till ya make it.
  • I'd expect it to be a training session with admin privileges. Similar to a robot vacuum learning the layout of the house and mapping maybe? Just with added steps based on where the washing machine, detergent etc are located.
  • Sounds like it's remote-controlled if it can't perform some task and that it should learn to do it after being remote-controlled.
  • Seems like a way to get non-citizen day laborers at super low rates without the liability.
  • Can't wait to see the first news of the elderly being scammed/robbed by and through their remotely operated AI helper robot.
  • https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250107-invisible-man...

    Companies found out that hiring indians and teleoperate the “robot” is far cheaper than having an autonomy or AI algorithms with sensors on-board. Speaking of, all these food delivery “robots” were/are teleoperated as well over the internet as well.