The world is just not quite ready for humanoids yet
Famed robotics Rodney Brooks recently sounded the alarm on the amount of money going into humanoid startups. He’s not the only skeptic.
Why iRobot’s founder won’t go within 10 feet of today’s walking robots
Rodney Brooks says humanoid robots pose hidden safety challenges and won’t learn dexterity from video alone.
Figure reaches $39B valuation in latest funding round
Figure raised more than $1 billion in a Series C round led by Parkway Venture Capital in addition to numerous other investors.
Figure will start ‘alpha testing’ its humanoid robot in the home in 2025
by Brian Heater
Figure is planning to bring its humanoids into the home sooner than expected. CEO Brett Adcock confirmed on Thursday that the Bay Area robotics startup will begin “alpha testing” its Figure 02 robot in the home setting, starting later in 20…
Figure’s humanoid robot takes voice orders to help around the house
by Brian Heater
Figure founder and CEO Brett Adcock Thursday revealed a new machine learning model for humanoid robots. The news, which arrives two weeks after Adcock announced the Bay Area robotics firm’s decision to step away from an OpenAI collaboration, is centere…
Figure AI is in talks to raise $1.5B at 15x its last valuation
Robotics startup Figure AI is raising $1.5 billion at a $39.5 billion valuation, a whopping 15 times higher than before.
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Figure drops OpenAI in favor of in-house models
by Brian Heater
Figure AI founder and CEO Brett Adcock announced Tuesday that the humanoid robotics firm is exiting a deal with OpenAI. The Bay Area-based robotics company has instead opted to focus on in-house AI, owing to a “major breakthrough.” Adcock was tightlipp…
Figure AI details plan to improve humanoid robot safety in the workplace
by Brian Heater
Safety is often overlooked in the rush to bring humanoid robots to the workplace. As high-profile corporations ranging from retailers like Amazon to carmakers such as Mercedes and BMW have announced humanoid pilots for factories and warehouses, convers…
Persona’s founders are certain the world can use another humanoid robot
by Brian Heater
At this early stage, Persona’s pitch doesn’t stray far from the various humanoid firms with which it’s set to compete.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Understanding humanoid robots
by Brian Heater
Robots made their stage debut the day after New Year’s 1921. More than half-a-century before the world caught its first glimpse of George Lucas’ droids, a small army of silvery humanoids took to the stages of the First Czechoslovak Republic. They were,…
Figure rides the humanoid robot hype wave to $2.6B valuation and OpenAI/Microsoft partnerships
by Brian Heater
Today Figure confirmed long-standing rumors that it’s raising more money than God. The Bay Area–based robotics firm has announced a $675 million Series B on a $2.6 billion valuation. The lineup of investors is equally impressive, including Microsoft, O…
BMW will deploy Figure’s humanoid robot at South Carolina plant
by Brian Heater
Figure today announced a “commercial agreement” that will bring its first humanoid robot to a BMW manufacturing facility in South Carolina. The Spartanburg plant is BMW’s only in the United States. As of 2019, the 8 million-square-foot campus boasted t…
Figure’s humanoid robot walks for the camera
by Brian Heater
In May of this year, TechCrunch ran a piece titled “Figure’s humanoid robot takes its first steps.” The story was a firsthand account of my visit to the startup’s South Bay offices. The headline was a reference to both the company’s first year of…
Intel backs Figure’s Humanoid robot to the tune of $9 million
by Brian Heater
Bay Area-based robotics firm Figure this week announced that its humanoid officially took its first steps — a milestone it hit a few days shy of of the company’s first anniversary. Figure has made a good deal of progress in a short period, due in no small part to founder and CEO Brett Adcock’s initial $100 […]
Intel backs Figure’s Humanoid robot to the tune of $9 million by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch
Figure raises $70M to build its humanoid robots
by Brian Heater
I spent a bit of time at Figure’s Sunnyvale offices during a recent visit to the South Bay. The firm is currently in that semi-awkward phase where it’s ready to talk about what it’s working on — but only to a point. That means things like its process and plans are on the table, while […]
Figure raises $70M to build its humanoid robots by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch
Figuring it all out
by Brian Heater
First and most importantly: I finally hit Delta Silver Medallion for 2024, courtesy of last week’s trip back to the Bay. Like most of you, I came down with a bad case of wanderlust during the lockdown years and couldn’t wait to get back on the road. Suddenly I’m back to pre-pandemic work levels of […]
Figuring it all out by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch
Figure’s humanoid robot takes its first steps
by Brian Heater
Toward the rear of the office, an engineer is working on a metal hand. It looks human enough — roughly the same size with four fingers and a thumb. The Figure team is methodically testing every piece of their robot skeleton before piecing them all together to watch the prototype take its first steps — […]
Figure’s humanoid robot takes its first steps by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch
Figure emerges from stealth with the first images of its humanoid robot
by Brian Heater
Humanoid robots are one of those ideas that never truly goes out of style — it does, however, tend to ebb and flow across the decades. Whatever you happen to think about the project or the company that built it, Tesla’s Optimus prototype has revived the conversation around the form factor and efficacy and viability […]
Figure emerges from stealth with the first images of its humanoid robot by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch
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