Your personal robo-butler: Futuristic humanoid can boil the kettle, do the hoovering and fold your laundry – but fans claim it belong in a HORROR movie

From making tea to cleaning the floors, everyday life often feels like one huge chore. 

But the opportunity to offload such menial tasks to your own personal robot helper may arrive sooner than you think. 

1X, a Norwegian robotics company backed by ChatGPT’s maker OpenAI, has revealed an AI-controlled robo butler for the home, called NEO Gamma. 

In a promo clip, the advanced humanoid boils the kettle, vacuums floors, carries groceries, cleans windows and puts up a picture frame. 

At the end of the video, it takes a well-earned sit in the longue – while its blissfully-happy owners drink wine in the next room. 

Although it is currently a prototype, the creation could be autonomously completing chores in customers’ homes by the end of the decade.  

However, the 37-second clip appears to be receiving a mixed reaction from YouTube users, with one commentator comparing it to a scary movie. 

Another YouTuber said it ‘looks like a scene straight out of Black Mirror’. 

The NEO Gamma, a bipedal humanoid with realistic movements, could be autonomously completing chores in people’s homes by the end of the decade 

In a promo clip, the bot boils the kettle, vacuums floors, carries groceries, cleans the windows, puts up a picture frame and carries groceries

‘This feels like a viral teaser for a new Blumhouse movie’, a user said – a reference to the horror film production house. 

Someone else remarked: ‘It’s crazy to think that robots were only real in science fiction 10 – 15 years ago.’ 

Yet another posted: ‘I love how it sits down like a good boy after a job well done’, while another added: Honestly, I would have invited it to sit with us at the table. But that’s me.’ 

NEO Gamma – which is faceless apart from two ‘eyes’ – is described as ‘your personal assistant and companion’ capable of tidying, deep cleaning and home management.

But the realistic humanoid is also ‘designed for companionship’ and ‘brings warmth and personality to your home’, despite having a screen for a face. 

‘NEO adds a sense of order and balance to your home life that lets you focus on important things,’ the firm says on its website. 

NEO Gamma is a successor to the company’s NEO Beta model, which was only unveiled in August last year. 

This new prototype – which comprises artificial tendons covered by a beige knit suit – offers a number of improvements including a ‘natural human gait and arm swings’.

1X calls the prototype machine ‘your personal assistant and companion’ capable of tidying, deep cleaning and home management 

At the end of the video, it takes a well-earned sit in the longue while its blissfully-happy owners eat dinner in the next room

One person said the 37-second clip posted to YouTube was ‘like a scene straight out of Black Mirror’

NEO Gamma: Key specs 

Category: Home humanoid  

Developer: 1X Technologies

Capabilities: Tidying, cleaning, home management

Movements: Human gait and arm swings, sitting, squatting 

Availability: TBC 

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It can also squat down to pick things up from the ground and sit in chairs, ‘all while maintaining balance’ and a human-like posture. 

Improved manipulation means it is capable of picking up a large variety of objects in different scenarios, from a set of keys to a wine bottle and a wicker basket. 

NEO Gamma also has three speakers – one in the chest for AI voice interactions and two outward-facing speakers in the pelvis for bass, 360-degree sound effects and music.

Robots generally come with a slight hum with it’s operating, but NEO Gamma also sees a decrease in noise down to ‘the level of a refrigerator’. 

1X admits the prototype is teleoperated, meaning its movements are dictated by a human user who’s operating at a distance. 

However, the company is dedicated to developing robots that can operate autonomously, by intelligently perceiving its surroundings with cameras and sensors. 

It wants to get NEO Gamma into customers’ homes ‘as quickly as possible’ and is releasing a number of prototypes into select homes for testing. 

1X says: ‘NEO Gamma comes outfitted with soft covers to reduce impact on the surrounding environment and increase overall safety’

One YouTuber commented ‘he’s so lonely’ as the hard-working machine completes a range of tasks in isolation throughout the house 

1X CEO Bernt Børnich, who founded the company in 2014, thinks ‘we all have our own robot helper at home’ in the ‘not-so-distant future’. 

‘For humanoid robots to truly integrate into everyday life, they must be developed alongside humans, not in isolation,’ he said. 

‘The home provides real-world context and the diversity of data needed for humanoids to grow in intelligence and autonomy.

‘It also teaches them the nuances of human life – how to open the door for the elderly, move carefully around pets, or adapt to the unpredictability of the surrounding world.’

Last year, 1X revealed it had raised more than $125 million (£100 million) in funding from big industry players inclduing OpenAI, Samsung and Tiger Global.

The partnership with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, hints at a future where home robots not only complete menial tasks, but give informative answers to queries through verbal conversations. 

The investment fuels OpenAI’s rivalry with Elon Musk’s Tesla bot Optimus, which has yet to begin production and has also been teleoperated at showcase events. 

Creepy humanoid robot with a face made out of living skin tissue is created in Japan 

In sci-fi films like Alien, humanoid robots are so lifelike that it’s almost impossible to tell them from a real person.

Now, scientists in Japan are on their way to creating real-life versions of these realistic machines. 

The experts from the University of Tokyo have created a robotic face out of lab-grown human skin. 

Creepy video shows the bizarre pink creation attempting a cheesy smile.  

According to the scientists, robots with real skin not only have an ‘increasingly lifelike appearance’ but could heal themselves if damaged. 

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