1X unveils 25-DoF hands for NEO humanoid robot

1X announced a new tendon-driven robotic hand for its NEO humanoid platform designed to bring near human-level dexterity, strength, and tactile sensing to the robot while enabling more advanced AI-driven manipulation capabilities. The hand features 25 degrees of freedom, comprising 22 fully actuated joints distributed across the fingers and palm and three at the wrist. All joints are force-controlled and backdrivable, a design choice the company says improves both manipulation capability and tactile perception.

The hand's mechanical design uses tendon-driven actuation with gear ratios of approximately 5:1 to 15:1, enabling what 1X calls "force transparency"—the ability to sense external forces directly through the joints. Motors are housed in the robot's forearm and drive proprietary tendons through the wrist, allowing the hand to deliver high grip forces while remaining lightweight. The system incorporates high-resolution tactile sensing that measures pressure, contact location, and shear forces across the fingers. For operation in real-world environments, the hands are rated IP68 for water resistance and use food-safe materials, allowing the robot to operate in wet environments and wash its own hands. The design has undergone millions of test cycles and is intended for continuous operation while maintaining compliance and safety during contact with people and objects.

1X has demonstrated the hand's capability across a range of everyday tasks: assembling LEGO models, picking up screws and coins, installing light bulbs, using screwdrivers, rotating objects in-hand, zipping jackets, sorting grapes, pouring tea, plugging in USB-C connectors, and communicating using sign language. The company characterized the new hand as the culmination of work aimed at removing what it describes as the "hardware ceiling" that has limited humanoid robot capabilities, enabling AI models to take advantage of more human-like manipulation.

Bernt Børnich, CEO and founder of 1X, stated: "Our goal was never a hand that just looks impressive on paper. These hands are the culmination of intensive engineering focused on making humanoids truly useful. We built them to match or surpass human capability across every dimension that matters. With these hands, NEO crosses a critical threshold. The robot can now do the things humans do with their hands, every day. This is what the industry has been waiting for."

1X has established a dedicated production line and expects to manufacture up to 10,000 units during the year, supporting wider deployment of the NEO humanoid platform. The company emphasized its vertically integrated approach, with motors, electronics, sensing systems, tendon mechanisms, and software all developed in-house.

1X's new hand represents a significant shift in addressing what the company frames as a fundamental constraint in humanoid robotics: the gap between available hardware and the demands of real-world manipulation tasks. The design combines 25 degrees of freedom with force-controlled, backdrivable joints—a combination intended to enable both the precision and the tactile feedback that humans take for granted. By housing motors in the forearm and routing proprietary tendons through the wrist, 1X achieves high grip forces while keeping the hand itself lightweight and suitable for continuous use.

The company's emphasis on practical capability is reflected in the range of demonstrated tasks, from LEGO assembly and tool use to delicate work like sorting grapes. The addition of high-resolution tactile sensing—measuring pressure, contact location, and shear forces—suggests that the hand is designed not only to grasp and move objects but to sense and respond to them in ways that the company believes will unlock more sophisticated AI-driven manipulation. The vertically integrated approach, with motors, electronics, sensing, and software all developed in-house, may allow 1X to iterate and refine the system more rapidly than a design reliant on external components.

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