Our goal with this video was to create a fun and exciting glimpse into a not-so-distant future where humanoids cook delicious meals for us.

After connecting with Nick and his team, we brainstormed ideas for an engaging narrative. When Nick suggested a robot cook-off with NEO Beta as the “final boss,” we quickly set to work refining our cooking skills.

While cooking a steak dinner from start to finish was an impressive demonstration of NEO Beta's ability to navigate complex tasks, it is important to note that this showcase was done using teleoperation to ensure the successful execution of all tasks involved. That said, the only thing standing between NEO and a fully autonomous, medium-rare steak is the input data.

On Set With Nick

In the video, NEO Beta and Nick met up in Sunnyvale, California, near the 1X headquarters, for a home cooking showdown to see who could make the perfect medium-rare steak. The audience would ultimately decide the winner.

Nick generously brought NEO Beta a custom “Chef NEO” coat and stocked the fridges with more Wagyu beef than any humanoid could ever need.

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Fun Fact: We (wrongly) assumed NEO Beta might mess up at least one steak since this was an entirely new skill. To be safe, we had multiple backup steaks on hand. Proving us wrong, NEO Beta nailed it on the first try, and the 1X team and Nick got to enjoy the extra steaks afterward.

The shoot was full of laughs, imperfections like knocking over the olive oil, and memorable moments like when NEO Beta pulled off butter basting—reminding everyone on set they were witnessing a landmark moment in the history of home robotics.

Another Fun Fact: Nick admitted that NEO Beta was a better chef than Gordon Ramsay and Uncle Roger. He asked us to keep it a secret, but we couldn’t resist sharing.

How It Was Shot

While videos like this are extremely fun and important for showing the masses that humanoid robots are here and the fun is just beginning– we find it equally important to be transparent about how we capture these shots to maintain trust in the robotics community and set the right expectations for our product.

NEO Beta Movements

All movements were powered by 1X’s VR Teleoperation App running on Meta Quest.

Dialogue

NEO Beta's lines were filmed using voice pass-through with a filter. Although NEO is equipped with real-time conversation capabilities via our GPT-4o voice integration, we opted for controlled dialogue to align with Nick’s vision for the video.

NEO Beta’s voice was designed in collaboration with Nick’s team to find a tone that was playful and appealing to both his audience and our vision of NEO as a friendly, home-assisting humanoid.

Disclaimers

Cooking Disclaimer: Although NEO Beta successfully cooked a meal alongside Nick, cooking won’t be an immediate feature available to the first NEO users. We want to ensure NEO gains experience with safer tasks before handling sharp or hot objects.

Authenticity Disclaimer: While NEO Beta completed all tasks from seasoning the steak to flipping and removing it from the pan end to end, NEO Beta did require assistance to turn on the burner. Nick and his team felt that including this scene was important for their audience, so we agreed to create this article for transparency.

Final Thoughts

We’re incredibly excited that NEO Beta was able to cook a full steak dinner with minimal assistance. Sooner than you think, NEO will be cooking similar meals—and more—in your kitchen.

Huge thanks to Nick, Tim and Zach for putting this all together. 

We hope you enjoyed the video. Share it with friends and family and let us know what you all think on X or shoot us an email!