1X Technologies on July 9, 2026 unveiled new robot hands for its home humanoid "NEO," featuring 25 degrees of freedom (DoF)—22 in the fingers and palm plus three in the wrist—in a tendon-driven design the company describes as "an API to the physical world."
July 9, 2026 · 1X Technologies
NEO's New Hands: "An API to the Physical World"
1X unveils a tendon-driven humanoid hand with 25 degrees of freedom , closed-loop force control across every joint, and high-resolution tactile skin — aimed at solving the 70-year-old "hand problem" for home robots.
25
degrees of freedom
±0.2mm
demonstrated placement precision
~45N
peak fingertip force
10k
hands of production capacity this year
Degrees of freedom · preorder vs. now
The update adds three wrist joints, taking the hand from 22 to 25 controllable DoF.
Why the design matters
Forearm motors pull polymer tendons through a low gear ratio (~5:1 to 15:1) — making the hand backdrivable , so it yields safely on impact around people.
Sensing
Tactile skin + every joint acts as a force sensor
Durability
IP68 · food-safe · millions of cycles
Build
Vertically integrated: motors, electronics, tendons in-house
Demonstrated tasks: LEGO assembly · picking up screws · USB-C insertion · tool use · pouring tea · garment zipper · catching a ball
The upside
Force control + tactile sensing + backdrivability are called among the most advanced humanoid hands to date — practical for home safety and durability. Some say the bottleneck has shifted from mechanics to software and data .
The caveat
The AI side may not yet exploit the hardware. Full chores like laundry and dishwashing are viewed internally as an FSD-level challenge — real-world reliability and maintenance remain to be proven.
NEO home humanoid · pricing
~30 kg lightweight · soft-body · tendon actuation
In production now · integration into NEO and shipping expected from the second half of 2026
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