Bernt Børnich, founder and CEO of 1X, talks with Going Direct’s host about humanoid robots, robot learning, safety, manufacturing and 1X’s plans for Neo.
Børnich sees robotics moving from specialized machines toward general purpose systems that can work across many tasks. He argues that humanoids could gain economies of scale as production grows, while noting they will not replace conventional automation everywhere. He frames abundant robotic labor as a way to address limits on human labor.
Børnich estimates that a fleet of about 30,000 robots could generate data at roughly YouTube’s upload rate, after accounting for duplicate videos. He says robot data includes internal state, chosen actions and outcomes, while internet videos mostly show observations. 1X uses this experience to train world models that can predict outcomes, support evaluation and help robots plan.
Børnich says robots need compliant hardware so they can experiment in the real world without damaging themselves or their surroundings. He argues that varied tasks and settings improve transfer, while repeating one task has limited returns. 1X combines demonstrations, reinforcement learning, simulation and real-world experience, and he says failures can be especially useful training data.
Børnich describes 1X as vertically integrated across robot components, sensors and manufacturing equipment. He says existing humanoid supply chains rely on costly parts and tight tolerances, so 1X designed for lighter, safer robots with fewer components. He attributes the company’s approach to starting in 2015 with learning based control and hardware intended for robots that live among people.
Børnich says Neo weighs 66 pounds and is designed with soft materials, low energy motion and no pinch points. 1X shifted from its earlier industrial robot Eve toward a consumer focused Neo because home settings expose robots to more varied tasks. He says the initial rollout was planned for 2025 and that early customers would help improve the product through use and data.
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Relentless host interviews Bernt Børnich, founder and CEO of 1X, about scaling humanoid robot manufacturing, learning from deployments, and building generally capable home robots.
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