ARTICLE OF THE WEEK · 05 / HOME ROBOTS
Figure, Memo and NEO: how close is the household robot?
Figure is testing unfamiliar homes. Sunday is preparing Memo for a beta. 1X is taking NEO reservations. Three routes towards a machine that can help with the chores.
The next milestone for the household robot is an ordinary home it has never seen before.
After our look at LG CLOiD and the next wave of household robots, there is a useful follow-up. Figure has published results from unfamiliar homes, Sunday's Memo is approaching a planned beta, and 1X's NEO has a consumer reservation offer. Their progress is interesting precisely because the evidence is different in each case.
Figure Helix 2.5: the unfamiliar-home test
On 17 September 2026, Figure described Helix 2.5 testing in 30 homes in the San Francisco Bay Area that had not supplied its training data. The work covered three separately fine-tuned behaviours: gathering toys into a basket, making a bed and folding towels.
Figure reported 56% complete task success across that evaluation, compared with 9% for its training-from-scratch comparison. This is a company-reported benchmark for those tasks and conditions. It is not a claim that a robot can complete 56% of everything a household might ask.
The advance is the attempt to transfer skills between homes. Moving a towel on a familiar table is one problem; recognising a different room and finishing the same job is another. The published results are research evidence, not a UK product launch, and no consumer UK price or delivery date is established by that announcement.
Sunday Memo: a beta rather than a shop shelf
Memo, from Sunday, is presented as a domestic helper for jobs such as clearing a table, loading a dishwasher and handling laundry. Its friendly appearance makes it easy to imagine in a kitchen; the more important question is how much of the routine it can complete consistently.
Sunday says its beta is planned for late 2026 and that public sales will follow the beta rather than precede it. At our check, there was no confirmed public price or UK delivery offer.
The company describes demonstrations as autonomous and explains that people help collect training data through its Skill Capture Glove system. Training by demonstration and a person remotely operating a robot during a customer's chore are different things. We would want the beta results to show how often Memo finishes without intervention.
1X NEO: a price, a reservation and human assistance
NEO has the clearest consumer proposition of these three. 1X advertises an early-access purchase at US$20,000, with a standard subscription option at US$499 per month. Its reservation requires a refundable US$200 deposit. The stated initial delivery programme is for the United States; we found no confirmed UK launch.
The crucial detail is assistance. 1X describes basic autonomous abilities alongside an Expert Mode in which a remote human can help with more complex jobs. Buying into an early programme therefore does not mean receiving a fully independent housekeeper.
WIRED's July report on NEO's new hands adds a useful follow-up: improved manipulation is attracting attention, but demonstrations still need their operating conditions explained. A dexterous hand is one component of dependable help at home.
What the three offers actually mean
| Robot | Evidence to watch | Current position |
|---|---|---|
| Figure / Helix 2.5 | Company-reported trials in unfamiliar homes | Research; no confirmed UK consumer offer |
| Sunday Memo | Autonomous demonstrations and future beta results | Beta planned for late 2026; public price unconfirmed |
| 1X NEO | Early-access experience, including remote help | US reservation offer; UK launch unconfirmed |
The questions a beautiful demonstration leaves open
For a household, the useful measure is a finished job: the dishes put away, the laundry dealt with or the floor cleared, including the awkward moments between the impressive ones. How often does someone need to reset an object, open a door or rescue the robot? How long does the task take, and who cleans or repairs the machine?
Where human assistance is involved, ask when a remote operator can connect, what they can see, how consent works and what happens if the connection drops. Those details affect the experience of living with a robot as directly as its reach or carrying capacity.
THE LIVING SELECT VIEW
The next breakthrough will be a routine that works repeatedly.
Figure supplies the most interesting recent research update. Memo offers a focused domestic idea to follow through beta. NEO puts an expensive consumer proposition on the table, with a level of human involvement buyers need to understand. All three deserve attention; none establishes a ready-to-deliver autonomous UK housekeeper.
For a more immediate category, revisit our Dyson Nurovi robot-vacuum feature or explore the existing Living Select catalogue.
Sources and image credits
Original editorial research; not hands-on testing. Sources checked 7 October 2026. Manufacturer results and delivery plans are attributed claims. Dollar prices are US offers, not converted UK quotations. Photographs and video stills are credited official material; no brand supplied this article.
- Figure: Helix 2.5, 30-home evaluation
- Sunday: Memo and beta information
- 1X: NEO capabilities and Expert Mode
- 1X: reservation terms and pricing
- WIRED: NEO hand development, July 2026