What questions should you ask before a robot enters your home?

Four, and none of them is price: what data does it collect and where does it go; who can control it and who can see through its sensors; what is its safety and security record; and what happens to your data at end of use or resale. The Home Robot Handbook answers these for each robot with a verified, claimed, or honest-absence basis on every answer.

Can a home robot see inside your house today?

For the 1X NEO, yes: NEO ships teleoperation-assisted, and in Expert Mode a remote 1X operator in a VR headset takes control, which means a human can see the robot's camera feed in your home. This is on the record, confirmed by a Wall Street Journal hands-on review. Tesla Optimus does not ship to homes, so there is no home unit to see through yet.

What has Tesla disclosed about Optimus home data collection?

Nothing official. Tesla has published no privacy policy or data-handling disclosure for a home Optimus. The only forward signals are decompiled Tesla iOS-app string keys surfaced by @Tesla_App_iOS via @TheHumanoidHub (2026-07-22) referencing in-home data collection, a consent screen, phone-key pairing, and an alerts system. These are app-decompile artifacts, claimed-tier evidence, not a Tesla statement.

Home robots

The Home Robot Handbook: what a robot brings into your home

Name: Home Robot Handbook: cross-vendor household-governance matrix
Creator: DEPLOY

The household-governance layer, not the spec sheet. Updated 2026-07-22.

When a robot enters your home, the questions that matter are not price or specs. They are: what does it collect, who can control it, what is its safety record, and what happens to your data when you are done. This Handbook answers those as receipts, not takes. Every cell carries a basis: verified where DEPLOY holds the answer on the record, claimed where the only signal is a dated third-party artifact and never a company statement, and not-disclosed where no established answer exists. 1X NEO is a record: it ships teleoperation-assisted, so a remote operator can see into your home today. Tesla Optimus is anticipated: Tesla has disclosed nothing, and the only forward signals are decompiled iOS-app strings surfaced by @Tesla_App_iOS via @TheHumanoidHub.

Every answer is sourced from the DEPLOY registry. How we verify.

The governance matrix

Read across a row for one robot, or down a column to compare vendors on one concern. Each cell links to the full verified-vs-claimed answer on that robot's page. A chip reads on the record (DEPLOY holds it), claimed (a dated attributed signal, not a company statement), or not disclosed (no established answer, stated rather than guessed).

Robot	Data	Control & identity	Security record	Lifecycle
1X NEORecord-grade: a shipping teleoperation reality we hold on the register.	On the recordA remote human sees the camera feed in Expert Mode	On the recordOperated by vetted remote 1X teleoperators (VR)	Not disclosedNo incident on the DEPLOY record	On the record$20,000 one-time or $499/month subscription
Tesla OptimusAnticipated: no Tesla disclosure. The only signals are claimed-tier app artifacts.	ClaimedIn-home data-collection screen (decompiled app strings)	ClaimedBLE phone-key pairing + key whitelist (decompiled)	Not disclosedNo incident on the DEPLOY record; no home unit ships	Not disclosedNot disclosed
iRobot RoombaNot yet on the Handbook: no governance record established here.	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook
Amazon AstroNot yet on the Handbook: no governance record established here.	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook
RingNot yet on the Handbook: no governance record established here.	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook	Not disclosedNot yet on the Handbook

Data:: What the robot collects in your home, and whether it is stored or transmitted.
Control & identity:: Who can operate it, how it pairs to a person, and who can see through its sensors.
Security record:: Safety and security incidents on the DEPLOY record for this model.
Lifecycle:: Commercial terms, and what happens to your data at end of use or resale.

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