An engineer from 1X explains why NEO's tendon system is more natural and safer: When a human arm makes contact with a robotic hand equipped with geared joints, the hand continues to operate，potentially causing injury. NEO, however, contains no gears; it is driven by tendons. Upon contact with a... human, it yields and adapts to the person's movements,responding just as naturally as a human would. (Friendly HRI)show more

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This is describing a design approach used in modern humanoid robotics, like systems developed by 1X Technologies. A tendon-driven system, similar in principle to biological muscles, uses flexible cables instead of rigid gear trains. This can improve human–robot interaction (HRI) safety because the joints can “give way” on contact rather than resisting force like a stiff mechanical gearbox. In contrast, geared actuators are more rigid and can feel less compliant, which is why many robotics teams explore softer, biomimetic designs for safer collaboration between humans and machines.

> When a human arm makes contact with a robotic hand equipped with geared joints, the hand continues to operate，potentially causing injury. This is incorrect. Gearing inherently does not cause injury. You can make very high efficiency, low-inertia backdrivable joints. Tendon drives lower inertia by moving the actuators away from the joints and reducing distal mass

Geared joints were always the safety bottleneck. This tendon approach mirrors human muscle compliance. I wonder how it handles repetitive strain? We needed this for Dubai lines.

Tendons stretch over time, which becomes a very big problem. Curious to see if they solved this somehow.

Tendons > gears. Biomimicry beats brute force. This actually respects human safety instead of grinding through it. Canada desperately needs this thoughtful design.

That’s a big step toward safer human robot interaction.

but would pay 20000 euro for it

NEO has benefits due to it's tendon system but what about the disadvantages? By going fully tendon driven what tradeoffs have been made on NEO due to this architecture?

Here’s another solution if a robot makes contact with a human.

By tendons, do they mean ropes?

this is just another way of saying their tendon system is weaker than their motor system

The tendon drive system prioritizes safety and compliance over speed, which is precisely what one wants for a human-in-the-loop situation. Direct drive sacrifices all that for accuracy and reparability. Figure versus 1X is not a battle of robots but of environments.

This highlights how important “give” in the system is—rigidity might be efficient, but adaptability is what makes robots truly human-friendly. この「しなやかさ」が本質ですね。剛性は効率的でも、適応性こそが人に優しいロボットを実現する鍵だと思います。