Buying guide
Omi vs r1 in 2026
Comparing 2 humanoid robots across availability, pricing, capabilities, and verified deployments. Current as of 2026.
Key differences
On DEPLOY's record, Omi is further along: at the commercial stage versus r1 at the pilot stage, as of 2026.
- Omi has the lower recorded price.
- Omi is at the commercial stage; r1 at the pilot stage.
| Attribute | No image on file | |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Based Hardware | Rabbit Inc |
| Form factor | wearable | wearable |
| Maturity | commercial | pilot |
| Autonomy | — | — |
| Availability | shipping-nowshipping | shipping-nowshipping |
| Price | $17-$19/month subscription or $89 (actual sale price) | $199 (actual sale price) |
| Capability claims | — | — |
| Brain | — | — |
| Verified deployments | 1Based Hardware | 1Rabbit Inc |
| Privacy practices | 5third-party-sharing, on-device-processing, capture-indicator, data-deletion-control, cloud-upload | 10location-tracking, cloud-upload, data-retention, third-party-sharing, data-deletion-control, data-sale, location-tracking, data-sale, data-deletion-control, data-retention |
| Sources on file | 6 | 12 |
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Omi
r1
Editorial summaries
Omi
Omi, by Based Hardware (founder Nik Shevchenko, San Francisco), is a shipping AI necklace in the ambient-recording 'second brain' category: a small circular orb on a neck lanyard that captures conversations and runs them through GPT-4o for ambient transcription in 25+ languages, auto-summaries and tasks, a searchable memory database, daily recaps, and a 'Brain Map'. It sells for $89 as a consumer unit (about $70 dev) one-time, with a free tier (unlimited on-device transcription plus 1,200 cloud minutes a month) and an optional Omi Unlimited plan from $16 a month; the user owns the device.
It is one of the few genuinely open-hardware entries in the cohort: an MIT-licensed GitHub repo of about 12,700 stars with firmware, apps, and open hardware designs, maintained into 2026. The AI is genuine cloud functionality, not veneer. One significant cap-flag: the aspirational brain-interface and EEG 'reads-your-mind' marketing is not the shipping product, which is audio-only; the BCI module is roadmap with no code, and TechCrunch could not verify it. (Omi is distinct from Friend, Avi Schiffmann's pendant; Shevchenko's device was originally also named Friend and was renamed Omi.)
r1
The Rabbit r1 is a $199 pocket AI companion device, unveiled at CES in January 2024 and still shipping into 2026, with no subscription. Its editorial throughline is the gap between demo and product: the launch demonstration of a Large Action Model (LAM) completing agentic tasks outran what the shipping product has consistently delivered.
Rabbit has shipped software updates since launch, but consistent agentic task completion is not verified. DEPLOY classifies its maturity as pilot.
Common questions
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Recent coverage
- $IOTEX target for bullrunOmi · TradingView · 2026-08-22
- NYT Pips hints, answers for August 22, 2026Omi · Mashable · 2026-08-22
- Kongsberg lands $118m RS4 weapon systems deal for Canada’s ACSVsr1 · Army Technology · 2026-08-21
- Unitree launches a seven-axis dexterous arm starting at RMB9,900r1 · Technode · 2026-08-20
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