Buying Back Time or Buying New Risk? The Home Robot Trade-Off 

Gary Perkins, Chief Information Security Officer

What would you pay to make your household chores disappear? 

What if a robot could reliably handle three of those chores, but still needed you to check its work, rescue it when it got stuck, or schedule a remote human operator to help it navigate your kitchen? 

I suspect your number drops with every condition. The value depends on how much time the robot actually saves and how much access to your home you must give it. 

Key Takeaways

• A robot’s value depends on the time it actually saves after supervision, troubleshooting, and maintenance. 
• Some tasks may require remote human assistance. Understand who can connect and when you must approve access. 
• Review camera and microphone controls, recording practices, and how the company stores and deletes household data. 
• Ask how long the manufacturer will provide security updates and what keeps working if cloud services end.

I Actually Put Down a Deposit

I’m not someone who jumps on every technological fad or Kickstarter campaign. After more than 30 years in cybersecurity, I’ve watched promising products become abandoned gadgets and expensive security liabilities. So I surprised myself when 1X Technologies opened reservations for its NEO humanoid home robot. I put down a deposit without hesitating. 

I’m fascinated by the possibilities. I’m equally skeptical about the promises. 

According to 1X, NEO stands five and a half feet tall, weighs approximately 66 pounds, and uses a soft-bodied design. The company says it will help with chores such as folding laundry and tidying rooms. 

1X lists NEO at $20,000 through its Early Access program, or $499 per month with a subscription. Reservations require a refundable $200 deposit. According to 1X, US deliveries are expected to begin in 2026 with Early Access customers, followed by subscribers. 

At those prices, the purchase price equals about 40 months of subscription payments. That isn’t a full financial break-even: repairs, warranty coverage, subscription benefits, and future capabilities all matter. 

What We’re Really Buying Is Relief

Research involving thousands of people across several countries found that spending money to save time was associated with greater life satisfaction. In a field experiment, participants also reported greater happiness after buying time-saving services than after buying material goods. 

But the value of eliminating chores isn’t simply the minutes saved. It’s the freedom from having to think about them. There’s an entire category of household work that rarely appears on anyone’s to-do list: remembering what needs doing, deciding when it should happen, making arrangements, and checking whether it was completed. 

If a robot folds my towels but I still have to notice the laundry, issue instructions, monitor progress, and put everything away afterward, how much have I really gained? A useful robot needs to reduce both the physical work and the mental burden. That’s a considerably harder challenge. 

A Demonstration Is Only a Starting Point

Whenever I evaluate new technology, I distinguish among what a company promises, what it demonstrates, and what independent testing supports. 

Assembling cars in a controlled factory and cleaning a cluttered kitchen are very different challenges. In a factory, objects generally arrive in predictable places. At home, someone moves the furniture, leaves shoes on the stairs, spills a drink, or lets the dog wander into the room. A robot must recognize those changes, decide what to do, and act safely. It also needs enough battery life, fine motor control, and the ability to recover from mistakes. 

1X says NEO will arrive with basic autonomous capabilities and improve through software updates. For unfamiliar tasks, 1X says owners will be able to schedule an expert to guide NEO remotely through Expert Mode. Some work we imagine artificial intelligence handling may initially need a person operating the robot from elsewhere. 

Before relying on it, I want to see how consistently it completes chores in an ordinary home and how often it needs help. 

The Economics of Getting Your Time Back

Let’s return to that $499 monthly subscription. If a robot reliably saves one hour of household work every day, that’s roughly 30 hours per month. You’re spending about $17 per hour to reclaim that time. If it saves only an hour per week, the cost rises to roughly $115 per hour, averaged over a year. 

Subtract the time spent supervising, troubleshooting, scheduling remote assistance, cleaning up mistakes, and maintaining the machine. An hour saved minus twenty minutes of babysitting is really just forty minutes saved. 

Saved time isn’t necessarily saved money. If you spend the extra hour working, perhaps it generates financial value. If you spend it reading, exercising, or playing with your children, the return may be more meaningful. 

If my robot gives me an extra hour every day, will I use it to enjoy life, or will I simply find more things that need doing? That’s a question worth answering before spending $20,000. 

Start With Manageable Chores

In research on forecasting, people lost confidence in algorithms faster than in humans making comparable mistakes. Those experiments didn’t involve home robots, but I suspect the principle carries over. If a teenager accidentally breaks a wine glass while unloading the dishwasher, it’s an unfortunate mistake. If my $20,000 robot breaks that same glass, I might question the entire purchase. 

My initial expectations are modest. I’d start with folding laundry and organizing clutter, then consider putting things away and unloading the dishwasher once I trust its performance. My wish list is longer: taking out the garbage, cleaning bathrooms and floors, making beds, watering plants, and cleaning the garage. Wanting a capability doesn’t mean it exists. 

Sometimes a specialized machine makes more sense. Does a humanoid robot really need to push a vacuum cleaner when a robot vacuum can handle the floor? 

For now, I wouldn’t assign an early-generation robot tasks involving sharp objects, hot surfaces, or ladders, where a mistake could cause serious injury. I also wouldn’t trust it with unsupervised childcare or other safety-critical responsibilities. 

The Robot That Works While You Sleep

Imagine your robot cleaning the kitchen at 2 a.m. It may be equipped with cameras, microphones, sensors, and information about the layout of your home. It might know where your bedrooms are, what valuables are visible, when you’re away, and how your household operates. That’s an extraordinary amount of information to entrust to a connected device. Now add remote human assistance. 

Who can see through those cameras? Who can control the robot? What information does the company record, store, or share? Can someone access footage after a session ends? What happens if an attacker compromises the device or an employee account? 

In 2024, researchers demonstrated vulnerabilities in certain Ecovacs home robots that could allow attackers to compromise devices and access live video. Ecovacs later published fixes for specific vulnerabilities and affected models. 

In another incident, people involved in data labeling improperly shared images from special development versions of Roomba vacuum cleaners. Some showed private moments inside homes. That example raises a separate concern about how people handle the information a device collects. 

Neither incident establishes that NEO has similar vulnerabilities or data-handling problems. They show why buyers should ask about security before bringing any connected robot into their homes. 

Personally, I’d want strong authentication, encrypted communications, activity logs, and explicit approval before anyone remotely controls my robot. Bedrooms and other sensitive spaces should be off-limits, with clear controls over recording, retaining, and deleting personal information. I’d also want a simple way to disable cameras, microphones, and remote access. 

We also have to consider everyone else living in or visiting the home. They may not share our enthusiasm for having cameras moving through private spaces.

What Happens When Support Ends

A modern home robot depends on software, updates, cloud services, replacement parts, and ongoing technical support. 

Even iRobot went through Chapter 11 restructuring before emerging under new ownership in January 2026. Its announcement described continuity for customers. A change in ownership doesn’t automatically end product support, but it is a reason to ask what happens next. 

What happens if your robot manufacturer changes its subscription terms, stops producing parts, or discontinues cloud services? Will your expensive household assistant keep working? Will it keep receiving security updates? 

A robot that remains in your home after its manufacturer abandons the software can become a security liability. 

I’m Still Excited

I’m still enthusiastic about home robotics. I didn’t put down a deposit because I expect a perfect mechanical housekeeper to show up at my door. 

I’ll choose a few chores, measure the time actually saved, account for mistakes, and pay close attention to security and privacy. If managing the robot becomes another household job, it won’t have delivered what I wanted. 

At CISO Global, we help organizations weigh the benefits and risks of new technology. I’ll hold the robot in my home to the same standard: it needs to deliver real value without compromising my security or privacy.