One of the Hottest AI Application Scenarios: Humanoid Robots https://www.picit.ai/ https://www.picit.ai/features/ai-image-generator
According to reports from media sources citing insiders, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, AI chip leader NVIDIA, ChatGPT developer OpenAI, and other prominent billionaires or major tech companies are investing in a startup tech company developing humanoid robots—Figure AI Inc. Currently, tech giants like NVIDIA are actively seeking and exploring new application scenarios for artificial intelligence technology, with humanoid robots becoming a new trend. These tech giants seem to believe that humanoid robots will become one of the most important application scenarios for artificial intelligence (AI). NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang mentioned at the 2023 ITF World Congress that the next wave of artificial intelligence will be a new type of AI called embodied AI. With the recent emergence of the generative video model Sora, which can understand and simulate the physical world in motion, the future development of larger-scale generative video models with physical world simulation capabilities may fully promote the growth of the humanoid robot industry. Insiders indicate that Figure AI, a startup supported by NVIDIA, OpenAI, and Microsoft, raised about $675 million in a funding round, with a pre-funding valuation of approximately $2 billion. Amazon founder Bezos invested in Figure AI through his company Explore Investments LLC, reportedly committing $100 million. Microsoft's (MSFT.US) major shareholder, OpenAI, will invest $95 million, while funds under NVIDIA (NVDA.US) and Amazon (AMZN.US) will each invest $50 million. Humanoid robots have become a key application frontier for leaders in the AI industry, enabling the application of cutting-edge AI technology, such as generative AI, to real-world tasks. At Figure AI, engineers are developing a humanoid robot called Figure 01 that closely resembles human form and motion. The company aims for this robot to perform dangerous tasks unsuitable for humans and hopes that this AI-enhanced humanoid robot will help alleviate labor shortages. In addition to the aforementioned tech giants, other major technology companies are also actively participating. Intel's venture capital arm will contribute $25 million, LG Innotek from the LG Group will provide $8.5 million, and Samsung Electronics' investment group has committed $5 million. Other significant investors include venture capital firms Parkway Venture Capital and Align Ventures, with the former investing $100 million and the latter providing $90 million. Cathie Wood's ARK Venture Fund is also participating with an investment of about $2.5 million, and Aliya Capital Partners is investing approximately $20 million. Other investors include Tamarack, investing about $27 million; Boscolo Intervest Ltd. with about $15 million; and BOLD Capital Partners with about $2.5 million. It is reported that OpenAI, the developer of the globally popular ChatGPT, had once considered acquiring Figure AI and is currently planning to invest $5 million. According to media reports from January this year, Microsoft and OpenAI led this round of funding. The star power of these two AI leaders helped attract substantial cash flow from other tech giants. According to insiders, the approximately $675 million raised in this round of funding is significantly higher than the $500 million Figure AI initially sought. Representatives from Figure AI and its investors declined to comment or did not immediately respond to media inquiries. Figure 01 quickly gained popularity for being able to independently complete a coffee-making process and perform coffee-pouring actions similar to human movements. If the final outcome isn't satisfactory, Figure 01 can adjust on its own without any remote human control. With a silver-black appearance, Figure 01 closely resembles classic robot images from Hollywood sci-fi movies. Figure 01 is arguably the world's first commercially viable autonomous general-purpose humanoid robot, designed to perform a wide range of tasks across various industries, including manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, and retail. This robot combines the dexterity of human form with cutting-edge AI technology, enabling it to understand and interact with its environment, think, learn, and handle various tasks. It is designed for deployment in the workplace to address labor shortages and ultimately to lead in eliminating unsafe and undesirable human jobs. In addition to its coffee-pouring functionality, Figure 01 integrates the latest AI technology, enabling it to perform a series of relatively complex tasks. By observing humans at work, Figure 01 can autonomously develop an understanding of task execution and complete these tasks independently. This capability allows Figure 01 to handle a variety of jobs, understanding and using tools, equipment, objects, and techniques used by humans, making it as adaptable and flexible as humans in a broader dynamic work environment. In terms of AI technology, based on large AI model technology, Figure 01 has observational learning capabilities, enabling it to complete tasks by watching human behavior, independently building understanding, and executing these tasks. This ability demonstrates its autonomy and learning capacity during task execution, marking a significant advancement in humanoid robot technology and the AI field. Specifically, Figure 01 can learn new tasks by watching videos, adding these tasks to its action library, and transmitting newly learned tasks to other Figure robots running the same system through collective learning. This means that once the learning process demonstrates robustness across different tasks, Figure 01 will be able to learn and execute a wide variety of complex tasks, such as peeling bananas, filing papers, opening and closing bottle caps, using wrenches, drills, angle grinders, and screwdrivers. Insiders expect the investors mentioned above to transfer funds to Figure AI next Monday (Eastern Time) and sign the formal investment agreements, but as the final details are drafted, these figures may change. Insiders also mentioned that the approximately $2 billion valuation is the pre-funding valuation, meaning it does not include the capital raised by Turing. As early as May last year, Figure AI raised about $70 million in a funding round led by Parkway. At the time, the company's CEO, Brett Adcock, stated, “We aim to be one of the first technology companies to bring truly practical and commercially viable humanoid robots to market.” Recently, the humanoid robot industry, based on artificial intelligence technology, has been extremely busy. Earlier this year, another OpenAI-backed Norwegian robotics startup, 1X Technologies, raised about $100 million. Vancouver-based Sanctuary AI is developing a humanoid robot called “Phoenix.” Global electric vehicle leader Tesla, arguably the leading company in the humanoid robot field, is developing a humanoid robot named Optimus. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasized that this is one of his most important projects. Amazon, which invested in Agility Robotics in 2022, is testing humanoid robots in one of its warehouses. According to the billionaire rankings, Amazon founder Bezos is the second wealthiest person in the world, having served as Amazon's CEO until 2021 and still remaining as chairman. His net worth is estimated to be $197.1 billion. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang mentioned at the 2023 ITF World Congress that the next wave of artificial intelligence will be a new type of AI called embodied AI. In addition, with the emergence of the generative video model Sora, Sora's ability to simulate the physical world may fully promote the development of the humanoid robot industry. From March 18 to 21, NVIDIA's annual AI conference, GTC (GPU Technology Conference) 2024, will be held at the San Jose Convention Center in the U.S. As one of NVIDIA's most important release platforms each year, GTC has become a globally recognized “AI weathervane,” and this year's GTC is the first in-person event in five years. According to NVIDIA, CEO Jensen Huang will announce the latest breakthroughs in accelerated computing, generative AI, and humanoid robotics at the event. In the pre-event activities, NVIDIA emphasized that it would release the latest achievements in the robotics field, with many leading global robotics companies showcasing the next generation of robotic products. These include Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Disney, and Google DeepMind, which will display 25 robots, including humanoid robots and industrial robotic arms. It is reported that NVIDIA previously launched NVIDIA Isaac, an integrated platform specifically designed for robotics, aimed at accelerating the development and deployment of humanoid robots. The platform provides a complete set of tools and technologies, including machine learning, computer vision, simulation, and support for various robotic hardware, enabling developers and companies to create, train, and deploy highly autonomous humanoid robotic systems. Among them, Isaac SIM is a physics-based simulation environment that uses virtual reality technology to simulate the real world, allowing robots to learn and test in a virtual environment, speeding up development cycles and reducing the time and cost required for actual testing. At the end of the story, you can find more interesting cntents about AI on Picit.ai's blog and use its fabulous photo editing function for free.