What a Home Robot Costs
What does it cost to have a robot do your chores?
The price.
The best known, 1X's NEO: twenty thousand dollars to own. Or four hundred and ninety-nine a month. A wheeled rival, Weave's Isaac: about eight thousand, or four hundred and forty-nine a month. Or, if you're invited, rent a cleaning service, Tau's: two robots for an hour, reported at sixty dollars. The makers' own pages on 28 October 2026: NEO $20,000, or $499 a month, with a $200 deposit, "US Deliveries start 2026"; Isaac 1 $7,999, or $449 a month, $250 deposit, "Deliveries to California begin in Fall 2026". Tau lists no price on its site and is invite-only; $60 for two robots for an hour is MarketWatch's report. Over a year of subscription, NEO's $499 a month comes to $5,988 and Isaac's $449 to $5,388, before the deposits; our own arithmetic from the makers' pages.
Source: 1X's and Weave's own pages, read at source 28 October 2026; Tau's hourly price as MarketWatch reported it, read on MarketWatch (secondary)
What's included.
And what comes with it? In 1X's words: "For any chore it doesn't know, you can schedule a 1X Expert to guide it." A person, from the company, guiding the robot remotely, in your home, at a time you book.
1X's sentence in full: "NEO works autonomously by default. For any chore it doesn't know, you can schedule a 1X Expert to guide it, helping NEO learn while getting the job done." The Expert can "remotely supervise its actions at scheduled times". 1X's Bernt Børnich, replying to MKBHD's video a year ago, in full as written: "@MKBHD Just to clarify, all actions portrayed as AI in the video (text layovers from the AI planner) is 100% autonomous. We hope to ship a mostly fully autonomous robot in 2026, but chose to not promise anything that does not already works today. Hopefully breaking with the trend."
Source: 1X's and Weave's own pages, read at source 28 October 2026; Tau's hourly price as MarketWatch reported it, read on MarketWatch (secondary)
The others say the same.
Weave's page: "teleoperation assistance when needed." Tau's own answer to "Are the robots fully autonomous?": "No, robots are operated by humans and AI."
Each from the maker's own page or FAQ, read on 28 October 2026.
When.
And when does it arrive? 1X says it booked out its first year of production in five days: ten thousand robots. Its promise: "Some of you will get your NEO this year, some will get them later." In April, it said the robots coming off the line were "being prioritized for our internal team."
The factory post of 30 April 2026, six months after the launch, exact: "booked out our entire production capacity for the next year in just 5 days (10,000 NEOs)": pre-orders on a $200 deposit, not sales. "While the current NEOs coming off the line are being prioritized for our internal team to accelerate development and testing in homes, we are working around the clock to deliver NEO to your doorstep starting in 2026". No customer delivery is confirmed at source to 28 October 2026; nothing here implies fraud.
The person who helps it.
You're not just buying a robot. For now, you're also hiring the person who helps it.
In the makers' own words: "schedule a 1X Expert"; "teleoperation assistance"; "operated by humans and AI". What we couldn't confirm: Any 1X customer delivery. Tau's hourly price at the maker itself.
Every price and promise from the makers' own pages. Token Runner dot A I.
Sources
- 1X, its NEO page, read at source on 28 October 2026: $20,000 to own, or $499 a month, a $200 deposit, "US Deliveries start 2026"; "NEO works autonomously by default. For any chore it doesn't know, you can schedule a 1X Expert to guide it, helping NEO learn while getting the job done."; the Expert can "remotely supervise its actions at scheduled times".
- 1X, its factory post of 30 April 2026 (six months after the launch), read at source: "booked out our entire production capacity for the next year in just 5 days (10,000 NEOs)" (pre-orders on a $200 deposit, not sales); "Some of you will get your NEO this year, some will get them later."; "While the current NEOs coming off the line are being prioritized for our internal team to accelerate development and testing in homes, we are working around the clock to deliver NEO to your doorstep starting in 2026". No customer delivery confirmed at source to 28 October 2026; secondary reports of April shipments conflict with 1X's own post.
- Weave Robotics, its Isaac page, read at source: Isaac 1, $7,999 or $449 a month, a $250 deposit, "Deliveries to California begin in Fall 2026"; "teleoperation assistance when needed." (the maker's one page, its Isaac section)
- MarketWatch on Tau Robotics' cleaning service: $60 for two robots for one hour ($30 per robot-hour), invite-only, with the company's own line that its robots are operated by humans and AI (the article is paywalled; the readable copy beside it carries the same price).
- Core Matter, 20 October 2026, a visit to Tau Robotics' cleaning service in San Francisco: $60 for two robots for one hour, at $30 per robot-hour (a readable copy of the price MarketWatch reports).
- Tau, its own FAQ: "Are the robots fully autonomous?" "No, robots are operated by humans and AI."
- Bernt Børnich (1X), his reply to MKBHD on X, 29 October 2025, in full as written: "@MKBHD Just to clarify, all actions portrayed as AI in the video (text layovers from the AI planner) is 100% autonomous. We hope to ship a mostly fully autonomous robot in 2026, but chose to not promise anything that does not already works today. Hopefully breaking with the trend." (106,669 impressions on 28 October 2026.)