1X x OpenAI

1X Technologies (formerly Halodi) is a Norwegian-Estonian humanoid robotics company developing NEO — a general-purpose home humanoid robot. Founded by Bernt Børnich. Raised $100M Series B. Backed by OpenAI Startup Fund. NEO designed for home use: bipedal walking, human-like manipulation, safe around humans. Developing own world model for [Embodied intelligence](/companies/embodied-intelligence). Headquartered in Oslo with engineering in Estonia.

OpenAI Robotics is the in-house robotics division of OpenAI (San Francisco), publicly announced by CEO Sam Altman on X on May 31 2026. Per Altman, it evolved over the prior year from OpenAI's Worldsim research program and is led by Aditya Ramesh (VP of Research, creator of DALL-E), with the stated aim of bringing the intelligence of OpenAI's video-generation / world-simulation models into physical robots through co-designed hardware and AI. It is a relaunch: OpenAI's original robotics team (2017) built the Dactyl hand that solved a Rubik's cube one-handed in 2019 before the team was disbanded around 2021, after which OpenAI invested in robotics externally via [1x technologies](/companies/1x-technologies) (2023) and Figure AI (2024, partnership ended Feb 2025). As of the announcement the division's existence and active hiring are verified through OpenAI's own institutional channels, but it has shipped no hardware; its strategic positioning (near-term skilled-worker support, a long-term 'personal robot for everyone') and all capability and timeline claims are stated aspirations, not demonstrated outcomes.