Humanoid robot NEO Beta fought in the kitchen with famous chef Nick DiGiovanni

Famous chef and blogger Nick DiGiovanni had a culinary duel with the humanoid robot NEO Beta from 1X, demonstrating the prospects for using robots in the home. Using a remote control app powered by the Meta✴ Quest platform to provide motion control, NEO Beta cooked a medium-rare steak under operator guidance.

Image source: 1x.tech

The idea for the project arose after discussions with DiGiovanni’s team, who proposed turning NEO Beta into a “final boss” – a robot chef that he would have to fight in the kitchen. The 1X team supported this idea, and preparations for filming soon began. The scene for the culinary battle was the city of Sunnyvale (California), located not far from the 1X headquarters, where all the technical solutions were developed to provide the robot with flexibility and precision of movements.

The filming process was focused on demonstrating the capabilities of NEO Beta, which had to independently carry out all stages of preparing a steak – from seasoning with spices to carefully turning it over in a frying pan. This task was complex, requiring the robot to perform precise actions that required temperature control and timing. To ensure all movements were completed successfully, the team used remote control of the robot through the 1X app for Meta✴ Quest, allowing for smoothness and precision in every step of the cooking process. According to the developers, the only thing that currently separates NEO Beta from full autonomy is the need to process and synthesize a significant amount of data at each stage.

The filming took place in a home environment, which enhanced the sense of reality of what was happening. DiGiovanni even brought a specially tailored “Chef NEO” jacket for the robot, and the refrigerator was abundantly stocked with marbled beef, so that in case of an error the robot would always have a spare steak. To the team’s surprise, NEO Beta cooked the steak perfectly on the first try and demonstrated the robot’s real potential as a promising kitchen assistant.

The filming process was not without its oddities, which made the atmosphere more lively. So, in one of the episodes, NEO Beta accidentally knocked over a bottle of olive oil. The most impressive episode was the oil-frying technique, which the robot performed with the precision worthy of a professional chef. DiGiovanni later noted that NEO Beta surpassed even such masters as Gordon Ramsay and Uncle Roger.

While the NEO Beta was able to successfully complete all the basic steps from seasoning the steak to flipping it and removing it from the heat, turning on the burner required human intervention. Nick and his team decided to keep this scene in the video to demonstrate the robot’s current level of autonomy. 1X emphasizes the importance of transparency in creating videos like this to maintain trust and not raise audience expectations.

Although the robot was equipped with real-time voice communication via GPT-4o integration, the team opted for controlled dialogue, which helped maintain stylistic unity and create the atmosphere that DiGiovanni intended. In addition to everything, NEO Beta’s attentive and friendly voice emphasized the image of a reliable home assistant.

It should be noted that despite the success of cooking steak, the cooking function is not yet included in the functionality of the first NEO Beta models. Initial versions of the robot will be focused on performing safe tasks that do not require contact with hot or sharp objects. The developers believe that at this stage, robotics should start with simpler everyday tasks, while ensuring a high level of safety for people, before becoming their indispensable assistant in the kitchen.