Bernt Børnich

Bernt Øivind Børnich is a Norwegian roboticist and entrepreneur. He is the founder and chief executive officer of 1X Technologies (formerly Halodi Robotics), a Norwegian-American robotics and artificial intelligence company developing humanoid robots. Børnich is a leading proponent of low-energy, tendon-driven actuation. In 2023, he began placing the company's robots in homes, including his own, where EVE performed household tasks. In January 2025, 1X acquired the robotics startup Kind Humanoid, expanding its operations in the San Francisco Bay Area.

NEO In March 2025, Børnich announced that 1X planned to place NEO Gamma, its bipedal humanoid unveiled the previous month, in "a few hundred to a few thousand" homes by the end of 2025 as part of an early adopter program. In April 2025, he presented NEO on stage as a speaker at the TED2025 conference. In November 2025, Børnich predicted that household robots could achieve full autonomy by around 2027 and reach ten percent of American homes by around 2030.

On April 30, 2026, Børnich announced the commencement of full-scale production of NEO at the company's factory in Hayward, California.

Design philosophy Børnich has stated that 1X's mission is "to create an abundance of labor through intelligent machines," citing labor shortages and aging populations as core problems humanoid robotics can address.

Personal life Børnich grew up in Norway. He relocated from Norway to the San Francisco Bay Area as 1X moved its headquarters to Palo Alto in 2025. He has a daughter.