In a unique culinary competition, chef and social media personality Nick DiGiovanni competed against NEO Beta, a realistic humanoid robot developed by the company 1X. Filmed in a specially adapted kitchen in Sunnyvale, California, the duel showcased the robot’s capabilities in a real cooking environment designed to accommodate its precision and flexibility.

During the challenge, NEO Beta managed each step in preparing the steak—from seasoning to flipping it on the pan—requiring temperature control and timing to achieve the desired outcome. The robot was controlled remotely through an app on Meta Quest, with 1X noting that the main limitation to full autonomy remains the need to process and synthesize large data volumes at each cooking stage.

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For the event, NEO Beta was dressed in a chef’s coat and equipped with a backup steak in case of error. However, the robot succeeded on the first attempt, delivering a perfectly cooked dish. Despite a minor mishap where it accidentally knocked over a bottle of olive oil, NEO Beta handled the cooking process with remarkable skill. DiGiovanni later commented that the robot’s performance rivaled even that of culinary icons like Gordon Ramsay.

Interestingly, the only part of the process requiring human intervention was turning on the stove. NEO Beta was equipped with real-time voice interaction powered by GPT-4, though the team opted for controlled dialogue to maintain the atmosphere DiGiovanni had envisioned.

It’s worth noting that cooking tasks are not part of the functionality in early NEO Beta models. The first units are expected to focus on tasks that do not involve handling hot or sharp objects. Launched in September, 1X’s NEO robots were designed to assist with household activities such as opening doors, carrying objects, washing dishes, and even playing board games. For safety, they can be remotely disabled in emergency situations.