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The race to bring AI-powered humanoid robots into homes and workplaces around the world gained new momentum today as Figure, a company backed by OpenAI and others with $675 million in its last funding round in February, today released a teaser of its latest model: the Figure 02, along with an August 6, 2024 release date.
As you’ll be able to see in the video, it lacks detail, but there are loads of shakes and close-ups, showing views of what look like the robot’s joints and limbs, in addition to some interesting, presumably flexible mesh designs for the robot’s body and labels for torque rankings of as much as 150 Nm (newton meters, or “the torque produced by a force of one newton applied perpendicularly to the end of a one-meter-long lever arm,” in keeping with Google’s AI Review ) and “ROM,” which I understand to mean “range of motion” of as much as 195 degrees (out of a total of 360).
Founder Brett Adcock also posted on his private X/Twitter account that Figure 02 is the “most advanced humanoid robot on the planet.”
With the support of huge names in technology and artificial intelligence
Adcock, an entrepreneur who previously founded cutting-edge startups Archer Aviation and recruiting agency Vettery, founded Figure AI in 2022.
In March 2023 The character emerged from stealth mode introduce Figure 01, a universal humanoid robot designed to unravel the global labor shortage by performing tasks in various industries equivalent to manufacturing, logistics, warehousing and retail.
With a team of 40 industry experts, including Dr. Jerry Pratt as CTO, Figure AI accomplished a full-scale humanoid in just six months. Adcock predicts that the robots will increase productivity and safety by taking on dangerous and undesirable tasks, ultimately contributing to a more automated and efficient future, while maintaining that they are going to never be weaponized.
The company, which in addition to OpenAI includes investors and backers NVidia, Microsoft, Intel Capital and Bezos Expeditions (the private fund of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos), signed a deal with BMW Manufacturing earlier this 12 months and showcased impressive integrations with OpenAI’s GPT-4V, or the vision model previously used in the Figure 01 robot, ahead of the launch of OpenAI’s new flagship product, GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini.
Presumably, Figure 02 will have one of the newer OpenAI models controlling its movements and interactions, one of the leading names.
Competition in deciphering humanoid robots intensifies
Figure has been a bit quiet currently, whilst other firms debut and unveil AI-enabled humanoid robot designs that they hope will help people in places like warehouses, factories, manufacturing plants, achievement centers, nursing homes, shops, healthcare facilities, and, in fact, homes.
While humanoid robots have long been the stuff of science fiction, their debut as industrial products has been slow and marred by expensive projects largely confined to research settings. But that’s changing with generative AI, or more specifically, large language models (LLMs) and multimodal AI models that may rapidly analyze live video and audio input and respond with human-like sound and their very own movements.
Indeed, recently, billionaire and multi-company owner Elon Musk declared with his typical bravado and ambitious goals that there was a market for over 10 billion humanoid robots on Earth (greater than one per person) — which he hoped to regulate, or at least take over in part, with his electric automotive and artificial intelligence company Tesla Motors (which is working on its own competing humanoid robot). called Tesla Optimus).
In addition, Nvidia unveiled new advances in training the artificial intelligence that drives humanoid robots as a part of the GR00T project, using Apple Vision Pro headsets worn by human teleoperators to guide the robots into making the appropriate movements:
And earlier this 12 months, pioneering humanoid robotics company Boston Dynamics unveiled an improved version of its Atlas humanoid robot, replacing hydraulic actuators with electric motors in a move that is likely intended to make the robot cheaper, quieter, more reliable and more durable.
So competition in the sector appears to be intensifying. But with such big sponsors and forward momentum, Figure seems well-positioned to proceed its own efforts in this space.