The Ultimate Holiday Robotics Wishlist

The holidays are right around the corner, and like kids making wish lists to send to Santa, we can’t help but daydream about the coolest robots we could possibly give or receive. When shopping for ourselves, we have to consider pesky realities like budget and practicality. At this time of the year, however, we get to fantasize about the amazing robotic wonders that Santa could deliver.

What are the most desirable robots available today? Let’s take a look!

1X NEO Home Robot

This might just be the most sensational product of the year — not just in robotics or even tech, but across all industries. The 1X NEO is, essentially, the robot butler/housecleaner/chef/caretaker/pal that science fiction has been foretelling for many decades now. It is a humanoid and human-sized artificial entity that can roam your home, doing whatever chores or daily tasks you’d rather avoid.

The 1X NEO is also controversial, to say the least. It will cost $499/month to rent or $20,000 to buy outright. That isn’t as unreasonable as it sounds, considering how much time it could potentially save you each day. But “potentially” is the key word there, because NEO’s capabilities are very aspirational at this point.

Deliveries to US buyers are expected to begin in 2026, but almost all of the NEO demonstrations to date were performed under the control of a robot operator. Will the 1X NEO live up to the claims? We don’t know, but it sure will be exciting if it does.

Ropet KAMOMO

The Ropet KAMOMO is kind of like a high-tech Furby for the modern age, but more “cute” and less “disturbing.” It is completely customizable with different masks, fur choices, clothes, and eye graphics. You can make your KAMOMO look like an adorable baby seal or like some kind of cowboy cloud monster.

KAMOMO robots can wave their arms and spin around on their pedestals to express themselves, which they do in response to their owners’ actions. A KAMOMO’s AI algorithms perceive the world around it through a camera and microphone, so it can do all kinds of cutesy things. And over time, each individual robot should develop a personality of its own.

While a Ropet KAMOMO isn’t going to wash your dishes like a 1X NEO, it is far more attainable. The starting price is $320. Or grab a “Forever Friends Duo” package to get two for $620. After all, you wouldn’t want your pet robot to get lonely while you’re at work.

Elephant Robotics myCobot 280 and myAGV

Elephant Robotics made big waves with the release of their myCobot series of collaborative robot arms, which all have six degrees of freedom and a variety of available accessories. Those accessories include end effectors, sensors, computer vision kits, and more.

The myCobot 280 is the entry-level model and comes in several different versions based on the included controller. Prices start at $599 and all have a reach of 280mm and a payload of 250g.

Check out this project demonstrating how the myCobot can find and pick up objects.

Want your myCobot to move around? Then you might want to consider the Elephant Robotics myAGV, starting at $949. It is a mobile robot chassis onto which one can attach a myCobot or use all on its own.

The myAGV has four-wheel drive and Mecanum wheels, which allow for dexterous omnidirectional movement. An onboard single-board computer (either a Raspberry Pi or an NVIDIA Jetson Nano, depending on the model) can perform sophisticated mapping and navigation with help of a suite of built-in sensors, including lidar and a camera.

Unitree Go2

You may have seen viral videos of the Spot robot “dog” from Boston Dynamics. That is intended for research and industrial applications, and it is wildly expensive. But there is a much more accessible alternative: the Unitree Go2.

With a price starting at $1,600 (Go2 Air without controller) and going up a lot from there, the Unitree Go2 is still a serious investment. However, it is amazing that this technology is even within reach of serious hobbyists.

The Unitree Go2 air has a payload of 7kg (max of 10kg), can move at up to 2.5m/s, has one to two hours of runtime per charge, can climb grades up to 30 degrees, has 3D lidar and an HD camera, and can perform intelligent object detection and avoidance.

Unitree G1

This is kind of like the 1X NEO, in that it is a humanoid robot designed for everyday tasks. But there are two big advantages to the Unitree G1: it already exists and it has proven capabilities. It also doesn’t come dressed in a weird futuristic sackcloth jumpsuit.

Priced at $16,000, the Unitree G1 was actually one of the first of the modern crop of humanoid robots to hit the market. It can walk, run, jump, and dance. It can grab things in its alien three-fingered hands and has a suite of sensors, including 3D lidar and an Intel RealSense depth camera.

Unitree doesn’t claim that the G1 will be able to handle all of your household chores autonomously right out of the box, but remote operation is definitely on the table. So, in theory, your butler could do those tasks through the G1 without actually needing to stay in your home.

Enabot EBO Air 2S and ROLA

The whole “companion bot” industry, which we believe was popularized by the Archimedes robot owl built by Hackster’s own Alex Glow, has really exploded in recent years. Who doesn’t want their home inhabited by the kind of cute little bot that might appear in a Pixar film? Enabot’s EBO Air 2S is something like that, but for families. It is a $299 “FamilyBot.”

This quirky little fella roams floors and desks on a set of tiny little tank tracks, emoting through big ol’ LCD eyeballs. The “squee” vibes are off the charts with this one. It has two-way video and audio (the eyes become video call displays), AI-based people tracking, smart room “patrol” algorithms, and Roomba-style self-charging capabilities.

The primary use case here seems to be keeping an eye on kids and pets when you’re away. For people who don’t possess children, there is even a dedicated PetPal robot: the ROLA.

The ROLA is more affordable at $239 and has variants designed specifically for keeping Fluffy and Spot entertained. One variant has a built-in treat dispenser and another has an interactive toy that it can swing around. Both have some AI and autonomous operation routines, so your furballs get enrichment even when you’re busy with a conference call or client lunch.

RichTech Robotics Scorpion and ADAM

Cute is nice and all, but sometimes adults just want a nice drink. RichTech Robotics builds a variety of hospitality robots, but has stolen the spotlight with their bartending robots in particular. They have two models that can act as mixologists: the Scorpion and the ADAM.

The Scorpion was purpose-built for crafting cocktails. It is a robot arm with a big weird LCD eye at the base for some reason. The ADAM is more like a very rotund humanoid torso and RichTech advertises it as more of a general beverage service robot, so it can pour drinks of any kind.

RichTech Robotics doesn’t list prices on their website and instead prospective buyers need to schedule a demo to get more information. That feels like an “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it situation.” But they do offer rentals, which is a pretty neat idea. Imagine having a robotic bartender at your company’s holiday party this year—people would talk about that for years to come!

LimX Dynamics TRON 1

Star Wars fans rejoice, because you can now own your own pet-sized AT-ST. The LimX Dynamics TRON 1 may be the most unique robot on this list and it is unlike anything else on the market. It is a bipedal robot with an uncanny resemblance to the iconic walker from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

The TRON 1 has some pretty crazy capabilities, thanks to its modular “multi-modal” nature. It can walk on two different kinds of feet or sort of skate around on wheels. There is even an Arm Expansion Kit, which looks like a third appendage growing from the top of the bot’s head.

The Standard Edition of the TRON 1 starts at $30,000, which is a small price to pay to join the Dark Side. And the unique geometry of the robot allows for some really wild moves, including the ability to jump off of high ledges and several feet to the ground. It can also leap like a cheerleader who just realized a spider was next to their foot, which is pretty impressive to see in action.

FANUC CRX-30iA

Those streamlined robots polished for the masses are great. But if we’re being honest with ourselves, what we really drool over is the industrial stuff. The kinds of robots that you only ever see in highly automated factories. That’s why we’re closing out this list with a robot every engineer can appreciate: the FANUC CRX-30iA.

This powerhouse of a robot is at the top of FANUC’s CRX line of cobots and weighs in at a hefty 135kg. It has a maximum reach of almost two meters and can lift 30kg. All of its six axes allow for at least 360° of motion and it can maintain repeatability of just ±0.05mm. In collaborative mode, it can move at 1,000mm/sec. Setting it to high-speed mode enables speeds up to 2,000mm/sec.

Starting at around $60,000, the CRX-30iA is perfect for everything from automotive chassis welding to unloading your trunk after a trip to Costco. And a wide range of training and programming solutions ensure that your CRX-30iA will always operate at maximum efficiency.

So, which of these robots are you going to put on your list?

Maybe you want a 1X NEO to help with the chores around the house. Maybe you want an Enabot ROLA to occupy your dog while you’re at the office. Maybe you want a TRON 1 to squash the rebellion. Or, just maybe, you want a FANUC CRX-30iA to fulfill all of your automation aspirations.