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In the field of AI-driven humanoid robots, a fierce competition is underway. Today, Figure AI, a startup backed by well-known companies such as OpenAI, released a preview video showing its latest model, Figure 02, and announced that it will be officially released on August 6, 2024.

Figure AI was founded in 2022 by serial entrepreneur Brett Adcock, who previously founded eVTOL aircraft company Archer Aviation and recruitment service company Vettery.

In March 2023, Figure AI officially launched its first general-purpose humanoid robot, Figure 01, which aims to address the global labor shortage by performing various tasks in industries such as manufacturing, logistics, warehousing and retail.

The Figure 02 teaser video released today doesn’t reveal a lot of specific details, but it does show off the robot’s joints and limbs, as well as some interesting, potentially flexible mesh designs.

The video also shows torque ratings up to 150Nm and a range of motion up to 195 degrees.

(Source: Figure AI)

Figure founder Brett said on his personal social media account that Figure 02 will be "the most advanced humanoid robot on earth." Although this statement has not yet been verified, Figure AI's rapid development and strong investment lineup are indeed eye-catching.

In February this year, Figure AI announced the completion of a $675 million financing, with a company valuation of $2.6 billion. This round of financing attracted several heavyweight investors in the fields of technology and artificial intelligence, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's private fund Bezos Expeditions, Nvidia, Microsoft, Intel Capital and OpenAI.

As part of the funding agreement, Figure AI is working with OpenAI to “develop next-generation AI models for humanoid robots.” The company will also use Microsoft’s Azure cloud service for AI infrastructure, training, and storage.

Earlier this year, Figure AI also inked a partnership with BMW and demonstrated impressive results integrating OpenAI’s GPT-4V vision model into the Figure 01 robot.

It is worth noting that this integration was completed before OpenAI released its new flagship models GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini.

Brett has said that his vision is for these robots to improve productivity and safety by taking on dangerous jobs that humans don't want to do, ultimately contributing to a more automated and efficient future. He also stressed that these robots will never be weaponized.

(Source: Figure AI)

In previously released information, Figure AI described Figure 01 as a fully electric humanoid robot that is 1.6 meters tall, weighs 60 kilograms, has a load capacity of 20 kilograms, and can work for 5 hours on a single charge.

Its design focuses on practicality, with a performance target of 50-60% of human capabilities, including degrees of freedom, peak speed and torque, etc. The robot adopts a slender shape to fit into the human working environment.

The company's plan at the time was to develop a new hardware and software version every 6 months. The first full-scale prototype (alpha version) has been completed and the first walk is expected to be achieved within 30 days.

The company also recently released a video showing Figure 01 in action. The robot, which is attached to a tether and walks on two legs, picks up a plastic box with its five-fingered hands, then takes a few more steps and places the box on a conveyor belt.

(Source: Figure AI)

Figure AI isn’t the only company working on developing AI-powered humanoid robots. Tesla is developing a humanoid robot called Optimus, and its founder Elon Musk has ambitiously stated that there is a market demand for more than 10 billion humanoid robots on Earth.

Nvidia is also showing new progress in training humanoid robot AI using its Vision Pro headset through its Project GR00T project.

Boston Dynamics showed off an updated version of its Atlas humanoid robot that replaces hydraulics with an electric system, which is expected to make the robot more affordable, quiet, reliable and rugged.

In addition, Amazon-backed Agility Robotics plans to build a factory with an estimated production capacity of up to 10,000 bipedal Digit robots per year.

Norwegian humanoid robot startup 1X Technologies also recently received $100 million in funding, including support from OpenAI.

These companies hope that AI-powered humanoid robots will be able to assist humans in working in a variety of environments, including warehouses, factories, distribution centers, nursing homes, retail stores, medical institutions, and even in private homes.

However, humanoid robots have long been a dream in science fiction stories, and their progress as a commercial product has been slow, mainly due to high costs and designs that focus on laboratory environments.

However, this is changing with the development of generative AI, especially large language models and multimodal AI models that can quickly analyze real-time video and audio inputs and generate human-like audio and motion responses.

Goldman Sachs analysts predict that the humanoid robot market will reach $38 billion by 2035, with shipments likely to exceed 250,000 units in 2030. However, experts point out that it will need to go through "several phases of change" before it can be widely adopted.

For example, humanoid robots require expensive components such as actuators, motors, and sensors to function properly.

Those costs are expected to fall in the coming years, according to Goldman Sachs analysts, who note that the cost of each robot has fallen to between $30,000 and $150,000 from between $50,000 and $250,000 last year.

Although the market prospects are broad, there are still many challenges to achieve widespread commercial application of humanoid robots. Factors such as cost, technological maturity, safety and social acceptance will affect the development speed of this field.

As for the performance of Figure 02, we will find out on August 6th.

References:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/29/robot-startup-figure-valued-at-2point6-billion-by-bezos-amazon-nvidia.html

https://spectrum.ieee.org/figure-humanoid-robot

Layout: Chu Jiashi

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