Robot head-to-head · No ratings, just evidence
1X NEO vs Sunday Memo (2026)
Strip away the industrial giants and the vaporware, and 2026's genuine home-robot race is these two: 1X's NEO, a bipedal humanoid on open pre-order, and Sunday's Memo, a wheeled chore robot headed into household betas. They embody opposite theories of what a home robot should be.
Our verdict
NEO if you insist on owning something now: it's orderable ($20,000 or $499/mo), humanoid, and backed by disclosed — if invasive-feeling — teleoperation that gets jobs done while the AI learns. Memo if you want the design more likely to quietly succeed at chores: wheels are more stable and cheaper than legs, and Sunday's training pipeline (500+ people recording real chores in real US homes with its Skill Capture Glove) attacks the actual bottleneck — but you can't buy one, there's no price, and the late-2026 beta is still a promise. Practically: NEO is a purchasable adventure; Memo is the one to shortlist after its beta ships and strangers report back.
Side by side
| 1X Technologies NEO | Sunday Robotics Memo | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Pre-order | Announced |
| Can you buy it? | Yes | No |
| Price | $20,000 Early Access (priority 2026 delivery) or $499/mo subscription | Not publicly priced yet |
| Form factor | Bipedal humanoid | Wheeled home robot with arms |
| AI brain | Redwood VLA + world model (in-house) | ACT-1 model trained on human demonstrations via a 'Skill Capture Glove' |
| Real-world evidence | Consumer pre-orders open since Oct 2025 ($200 deposit); first US home deliveries slated for 2026, other markets from 2027. | Beta program deliveries announced for late 2026; 500+ 'Memory Developers' record daily household demonstrations to train it. |
| Backing | Private | $1.15bn valuation ($165M Series B led by Coatue, Mar 2026; ~$200M total raised) |
| Sources | 1X Technologies · 1X Technologies · The Robot Report · PCMag · The New Yorker | GlobeNewswire / Sunday Robotics |
Status definitions: Shipping = real units delivered to paying customers; Pre-order = you can pay today; delivery comes later; Pilot only = working in partner facilities — you can't buy one; Announced = demos and plans; no deliveries yet; Shelved = promised, then indefinitely postponed or cancelled. We assign status from evidence, not press releases — methodology on the Robot Tracker.
Form factor philosophy
NEO bets on the humanoid thesis — legs go anywhere a person goes, including stairs. Memo bets that homes are mostly flat and that wheels buy stability, quietness, battery life, and a lower price. For pure chore reliability, the boring wheeled argument has history on its side.
How each learns
NEO learns partly from its own deployments — including Expert Mode sessions where a 1X teleoperator drives the robot in your home (with consent controls, blurring, and no-go zones). Memo learns from a paid network of humans recording chores with a glove that mirrors its hands, before robots ever enter your house. NEO's approach means humans-in-your-home-by-proxy; Memo's means the privacy question arrives later, if at all.
Availability and proof
NEO: real pre-orders, deliveries starting 2026 — but journalists' hands-on reports describe mostly teleoperated capability so far. Memo: nothing to buy, no price, no independent reports — but a dated, checkable beta commitment for late 2026. Neither has proven autonomous housework; NEO just charges you sooner.
FAQ
Can I buy a Sunday Memo instead of a 1X NEO?
Not yet. Memo has no public price and no open orders — Sunday's beta program was slated to put robots in real households from late 2026. NEO is the only home humanoid you can order today ($20,000 outright or $499/month).