ROBOT REVOLUTION

Are the humanoids ready to be deployed?

- BY STEPHEN WITT

Neo is among a dozen robots with human forms scheduled to hit the market.

On a recent sunny day in Silicon Valley, I visited the industrial headquarters of 1X Technologies. Security was tight, so I had to put a sticker over my cellphone's camera and talk my way out of signing an N.D.A. before I was brought into an enormous space to meet Neo, the company's home robot.

Neo stands five feet six and has no facial features except for two black cameras in place of eyes. The robot is a humanoid-its design is inspired by the human form and its proportions are a blend of those of the median American male and those of the median American female. But Neo has no skin. Instead, it wears a beige nylon turtleneck bodysuit, gloves, and padded shoes over a see-through carapace. Under that is a skeleton made up of more than a hundred whizzing motors and cordlike artificial tendons that control Neo's limbs. Neo's cozy, minimalist aesthetic allows it to blend into the background. If it served me an espresso at a café, I'm not certain I would look up from my phone.

The robot weighs just sixty-six pounds, and I was able to pick it up in a bridal carry. It communicates through a speaker in its chest, using several different voices; the default one is in a calm but authoritative masculine register, an A.I.modulated mixture of several voice actors. Neo can talk, listen, and respond to commands. In its skull is a squarish motherboard, roughly the size of a slice of bread and studded with white capacitors that look like teeth. This is Neo's brain.

Using A.I., it tries to translate your words into physical actions. If you ask Neo to pick up a cup from a table, Neo will attempt to pick up the cup. If you ask Neo to put the milk in the refrigerator, Neo will attempt to put the milk in the refrigerator. But Neo doesn't always succeed at these tasks, and no one really knows what it can or cannot do.