2014 — 2025
Every major funding round, partnership, and demo milestone for the humanoid programs chasing home deployment—pulled from primary sources and updated November 2025.
Founded in Norway, built actuators first, then pivoted hard toward home robots with OpenAI backing. Security deployments gave them the field data to launch NEO.
Bernt Øivind Børnich sets up shop in Norway with a focus on safe actuators and whole-body control for humanoids.
The company’s first public humanoid balances on wheels and targets logistics, medical, and security workloads.
Halodi signs a security partnership with ADT Commercial (Everon), culminating in a 140-robot contract—one of the largest single humanoid orders to date.
Halodi becomes 1X Technologies, raises a Series A2 led by the OpenAI Startup Fund, and pivots explicitly toward consumer humanoids.
1X secures a nine-figure round to accelerate a new humanoid designed for homes—later revealed as NEO.
1X buys Palo Alto-based Kind to deepen its household robotics talent and accelerate software.
Founded by Brett Adcock in 2022, Figure is sprinting from factory pilots to a home platform via its Helix VLA stack and BotQ manufacturing line.
Figure AI comes out of stealth with a biped aimed at logistics and warehousing use cases.
Parkway Venture Capital leads a $70M round to accelerate humanoid development.
BMW names Figure as a manufacturing partner to bring humanoids onto the Spartanburg, SC production line.
Figure raises one of the largest humanoid rounds ever, adds Microsoft and NVIDIA as partners, and inks a research agreement with OpenAI.
Figure shows a real-time dialogue and action loop between a human and Figure 01, hinting at autonomy aided by large models.
Figure unveils Helix, its generalist Vision-Language-Action stack delivering upper-body high-rate control plus full-scene reasoning.
Figure announces its first dedicated humanoid production line (capacity target: 12,000 robots per year).
The company unveils Figure 03—new tactile hands, wider FOV vision, inductive charging, and BotQ-ready design focused on consumer tasks.
Tesla’s humanoid efforts remain closely tied to its factories, with public sale timing still fluid. Hardware iterations have focused on weight, balance, and hand dexterity.
Elon Musk teases the project during Tesla AI Day 2021, positioning it as a general-purpose humanoid.
AI Day 2022 features the first working Optimus prototypes, dubbed “Bumble C.”
Tesla releases footage of a lighter, faster robot with improved 11-DoF hands and better balance (egg-handling demo).
A viral shirt-folding clip prompts questions around autonomy; Musk clarifies that the demo wasn’t fully autonomous yet.
Musk tells investors Optimus could sell “by end of next year,” reiterating that Tesla factories will receive it first.
Tesla’s shareholder meeting footage highlights Optimus assembly progress and hints at a future scaled production line with dedicated cost targets.
Where each program stands today—and the proof points backing that claim.
1X NEO
Preorders open in the U.S., 2026 delivery window per the company.
Source →Tesla Optimus
Huge platform, but public sale timing remains aspirational.
Source →| Theme | 1X | Figure AI | Tesla |
|---|---|---|---|
| First reveal | EVE (2018) | Figure 01 (2022) | AI Day “Tesla Bot” (2021) |
| Largest raise | $100M Series B (Jan 2024) | $675M Series B (Feb 2024) | Internal funding (Tesla) |
| Strategic deal | ADT/Everon 140-unit security order | BMW Spartanburg partnership | Internal Tesla factories first |
| Control stack highlight | Safety-focused actuation + teleop “Expert Mode” | Helix VLA stack (2025) | Optimus Gen 2 hardware; autonomy still mixed |
| Manufacturing signal | NEO launch with 2026 deliveries | BotQ line (12k/yr target) | Scaled line discussed; timeline TBD |
Every entry cites a primary source (press release, funding announcement, or credible reporting). Hover over the milestones above to see the links. Last refreshed: November 10, 2025.
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