The 1X Neo Robot Has Freaky Fast Fingers

1X Neo 机器人拥有令人惊叹的灵巧手指

Friendly home robots have been the dream of sci-fi for a long time. Docile, helpful machines that do your laundry, take out the trash, maybe make dinner, and clean up afterward too. But if robots are going to do all that, they’re going to need some hands to make all that happen. 1X, a Norwegian-American robotics company, today revealed details about the five-finger hands attached to its soft, helpful robot companion, Neo.

长期以来，友好的家用机器人一直是科幻小说中的梦想。人们期待着温顺、乐于助人的机器能帮忙洗衣服、倒垃圾、做晚饭，甚至在饭后打扫卫生。但如果机器人要完成所有这些工作，它们就需要一双能实现这些操作的手。挪威与美国合资的机器人公司 1X 今日披露了其柔软、实用的机器人伙伴 Neo 所配备的五指手部的详细信息。

The hands are built with actuators designed to replicate how tendons in the arms move human hands. 1X says this gives Neo’s hands 25 degrees of freedom of movement, which is just a little less than the 27 degrees of freedom human hands usually have. Cameras and AI smarts help sort out the broader context of what the fingers are trying to grab. It’s a dexterous mix that gives the Neo bot a very broad range of motion. 1X says the hands can grip odd shapes and detect when something is slipping out of its grip. The fingers can also move extremely quickly and hyperextend in directions human digits can’t. They also have an IP68 waterproof rating, meaning the robot can wash its own hands.

这双手内置了模仿人类手臂肌腱驱动手部运动的执行器。1X 表示，这赋予了 Neo 手部 25 个自由度，仅略低于人类手部通常拥有的 27 个自由度。摄像头和人工智能技术有助于识别手指试图抓取物体的更广泛背景。这种灵巧的组合赋予了 Neo 机器人极广的运动范围。1X 称，这双手可以抓取形状各异的物体，并能感知物体是否正在滑落。手指不仅移动速度极快，还能向人类手指无法企及的方向过度伸展。此外，它们还具备 IP68 级防水性能，这意味着机器人可以自己洗手。

It’s a range that the engineers have aimed to dial in to align with what a human can actually do. Jonathan Terfurth, 1X’s director of actuators and hands, says the range of motion might even be better than a human’s, enabling it to open doors, lift heavy objects, and even plug itself in when its battery starts to die.

工程师们致力于将这一运动范围调整至与人类实际能力相匹配的水平。1X 执行器与手部总监 Jonathan Terfurth 表示，其运动范围甚至可能优于人类，使它能够开门、搬运重物，甚至在电池电量不足时自动插电充电。

“You want to be able to operate with a human who has never worked or interfaced with a robot, and you still want it to be safe and compliant and soft,” Terfurth says. “Range of motion can be a bit extreme, but we try to be very close to what humans can do so that we can live in the world.”

“你希望它能与从未接触过机器人的普通人协作，同时又要确保其安全性、顺应性和柔软度，”Terfurth 说道，“运动范围可能会有些极端，但我们尽量使其接近人类的能力，以便它能融入我们的生活世界。”

Together, this is part of a growing ChatGPT-esque moment for robotics, where bots have gone from clumsy claw machines to capable handlers, able to gently carry fragile objects and become increasingly helpful for managing menial daily tasks and boring office chores.

总的来说，这是机器人领域日益增长的“ChatGPT 时刻”的一部分。机器人已经从笨拙的抓取机器进化为能干的助手，能够轻柔地搬运易碎物品，并在处理日常琐事和枯燥的办公室杂务方面变得越来越得力。

The humanoid robot market tends to be dominated by tough, hulking Terminators meant to be paraded out for some defense industry contract or another. 1X is taking a different tack for its robot. The Neo is a soft, supple robot wrapped in a 3D lattice shell. Its design is inspired by characters like Baymax, the affable robot from the Disney movie Big Hero 6. In limited quantities, early access pricing is $20,000 or $500 per month to have it in your home, though the lump sum will prioritize delivery for 2026.

人形机器人市场往往被那些强悍、笨重的“终结者”式机器人所主导，它们通常是为了展示以争取国防工业合同。1X 则为其机器人采取了不同的策略。Neo 是一款被 3D 网格壳包裹的柔软、灵活的机器人。其设计灵感来源于迪士尼电影《超能陆战队》中和蔼可亲的机器人“大白”。目前限量发售，抢先体验价为 20,000 美元，或每月 500 美元即可将其带回家，不过一次性付清全款的用户将优先在 2026 年收到货。

“We love this idea that a robot can be this peaceful and fun and goofy safe presence in a life,” says Dar Sleeper, 1X’s vice president of product and design. “Something that feels comfortable to be around, something that’s soft from the inside to the outside. If you want something to fit into your life, it can’t feel like it’s from a whole different universe.”

“我们非常喜欢这样一个理念：机器人可以成为生活中一种平和、有趣、呆萌且安全的存在，”1X 产品与设计副总裁 Dar Sleeper 说，“它应该让人感到相处舒适，从内到外都柔软。如果你想让某样东西融入你的生活，它就不能让你觉得它来自另一个完全不同的宇宙。”

Judgment Day

审判日

1X says the goal is full automation for Neo, but for now, the robot is partly teleoperated, as a Wall Street Journal video noted last year. That means human operators can take control of Neo remotely and even look through a camera to view the space around it. This is actually a feature called Expert Mode, meant to handle more complicated chores by bringing a human into the loop. It also means that if you have one in your home, it can see everything around it.

1X 表示，Neo 的最终目标是实现完全自动化，但正如《华尔街日报》去年的一段视频所指出的，目前该机器人仍部分依赖远程操控。这意味着人类操作员可以远程控制 Neo，甚至通过摄像头观察其周围的空间。这实际上是一项名为“专家模式”的功能，旨在通过引入人工干预来处理更复杂的任务。这也意味着，如果你家里有一台这样的机器人，它就能看到周围的一切。

This starts to get weird because, if the company’s advertising for the Neo is anything to go by, the robot can be in some very intimate situations. The marketing for Neo’s new fingers feels very sensual. Smooth jazz plays in the background of a soft, warmly lit video. The robo digits curl around a wine glass, turn off a light, unzip a jacket, and gently fondle some grapes. In previous ads, the humans stand just very close to Neo and look at it flirtatiously. (After this story was published, a 1X representative clarified that the company does not view Neo or any of this marketing material as flirtatious.)

这开始变得有些诡异，因为如果参考该公司为 Neo 制作的广告，机器人可能会出现在一些非常私密的场景中。Neo 新手指的营销视频感觉非常感性：在柔和、温暖的灯光下，背景播放着轻柔的爵士乐。机器手指环绕着酒杯、关掉灯、拉开夹克拉链，并轻轻地抚摸葡萄。在之前的广告中，人类站在离 Neo 非常近的地方，并以调情的眼神看着它。（本文发表后，1X 的一位代表澄清说，该公司并不认为 Neo 或任何此类营销材料具有调情意味。）

Not to kink shame, but this is a strange strategy for selling a robot that can also become a portal for human operators to peer into and interact with the things in your home. 1X says that human “experts” can only ever enter your home when you’ve specifically requested it, robot movements can be restricted, and faces and other sensitive information can be blurred. You can also monitor the video they are capturing via a mobile app. A ring light around Neo’s ear turns blue to indicate that a person is connected, and you can kick the expert out at any time. 1X did not immediately answer questions about how the company plans to prevent bad actors or hackers from taking over the robot.

无意冒犯，但这对于销售一款既能成为人类操作员窥探和互动你家中物品的“门户”的机器人来说，是一个奇怪的策略。1X 表示，人类“专家”只有在你明确请求时才能进入你的家中，机器人的活动范围可以受到限制，人脸和其他敏感信息也可以进行模糊处理。你还可以通过移动应用程序监控他们正在拍摄的视频。Neo 耳朵周围的环形灯会变成蓝色，以指示有人正在连接，你可以随时将专家踢出。对于公司计划如何防止不法分子或黑客接管机器人，1X 没有立即回答。

The other problem with the human element is that it is not yet possible to tell exactly how well these actuators and hand movements work. When asked if the videos were made by the machine automations or by someone controlling them remotely, a 1X representative wrote that “some of the videos are machine-articulated while some are operated to show the upper limit of the hardware capabilities.”

关于人工干预的另一个问题是，目前还无法准确判断这些执行器和手部动作的实际效果如何。当被问及视频是由机器自动完成还是由人工远程控制时，1X 的一位代表写道：“部分视频是机器自动执行的，而另一些则是为了展示硬件能力的上限而进行的人工操作。”