DEPLOY

Buying guide

NEO vs Adam in 2026

Comparing 2 humanoid robots across availability, pricing, capabilities, and verified deployments. Current as of 2026.

Key differences

On DEPLOY's record, NEO is further along: at the pilot stage versus Adam at the research stage, as of 2026.

  • NEO has the lower recorded price.
  • NEO has more verified real-world deployments (3 vs 0).
  • NEO is at the pilot stage; Adam at the research stage.
Attribute
Three 1X NEO units shown side by side in light-gray, cream, and dark colorways, upper-body view.
NEOView full model page →
Adam | Unity
AdamView full model page →
Manufacturer1X TechnologiesPNDbotics
Form factorhumanoidhumanoid
Maturitypilotresearch
Autonomy◐ not independently verified◐ not independently verified
Availabilitypreorder-openpreorderpreorder-openpreorder
Price$499/month subscription (manufacturer target) or $20,000 (manufacturer target) or $499/month subscription (actual sale price) or $20,000 (actual sale price)$45,000 (manufacturer target)
Capability claims
  • Tidies a room (teleoperated-assisted, demonstrated-once)
  • Fetches items (teleoperated-assisted, demonstrated-once)
  • Does dishes (teleoperated-assisted, demonstrated-once)
  • Elderly assistance (teleoperated-assisted, claimed)
  • Watches a pet (teleoperated-assisted, claimed)
  • Prepares meals (teleoperated-assisted, claimed)
  • Picks and packs (claimed-only, claimed)
Brain—
Verified deployments30
Privacy practices11Face blurring, Restricted zones, Session approval, data-retention, third-party-sharing, data-deletion-control, data-sale, capture-indicator, bystander-recording, training-data-use, on-device-processing—
Sources on file347

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NEO

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Adam

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Editorial summaries

NEO

1X is the only humanoid maker in this cohort betting on the consumer market at price-of-a-car scale, distinct from the enterprise-integration contracts that define Figure, Apptronik, and Agility. The hardware is verified: NEO is a bipedal humanoid shipping to early-adopter households, backed by a Hayward, California vertical-manufacturing facility, with the wheeled EVE archived as the prior product line.

The open question is utility at scale: 1X describes home-task performance today as a mix of supervised autonomy on learned chores and remote-operator teleop on the rest, an honest framing that also signals how much of the daily-use envelope is still operator-assisted.

Adam

Adam, from China's PNDbotics, is a full-size humanoid (~1.6-1.67 m, ~60-63 kg) in several variants (Adam Lite, Adam/Adam SP, the teleop/research Adam-U, Adam Pro), with quasi-direct-drive actuators and five-finger hands. The research-focused Adam-U is offered to research institutions on pre-order at about $45,000; other variants have no published consumer price.

DEPLOY classifies its maturity as research. A China deployment partnership (Tianyong) is stated, not yet a verified deployment.

Common questions

How do NEO and Adam differ?
On DEPLOY's record, NEO is further along: at the pilot stage versus Adam at the research stage, as of 2026. NEO has the lower recorded price. NEO has more verified real-world deployments (3 vs 0). NEO is at the pilot stage; Adam at the research stage.
What is the difference between NEO and Adam?
NEO and Adam are both humanoid robots on the DEPLOY registry. They differ in maker, maturity, price, verified deployments, and how much of their autonomy is independently verified. See the table above for the full head-to-head; each figure is sourced.
Which is cheaper, NEO or Adam?
NEO has the lower recorded price on the DEPLOY registry than Adam. Prices are sourced; see each record for whether the figure is a manufacturer target, an estimate, or an actual sale price.
Is NEO or Adam more autonomous?
On the DEPLOY registry, neither NEO nor Adam has capabilities independently verified as fully autonomous yet; their recorded capabilities are teleoperated-assisted, demonstrated, or vendor-claimed. See the table for each capability's verification status.
Which has more verified deployments, NEO or Adam?
NEO has more verified deployments (3) on the DEPLOY registry than Adam (0). DEPLOY counts a deployment only when confirmed at a named site with a primary source.

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Which humanoid robots can you actually buy in 2026?Answer The verified list.Humanoid robot prices: every verified figureAnswer The verified list.All humanoidsRegistry Every verified record in the category.NEOModel The full model page.AdamModel The full model page.1X TechnologiesRecord The maker's verified record.

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