Humanoid Robot Manufacturer Figure AI Secures 4.8 Billion Yuan in Funding, Collaborates with OpenAI to Develop AGI Robots
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Figure AI announced the successful completion of a 4.8 billion yuan Series B funding round, with investors including Microsoft, OpenAI Startup Fund, NVIDIA, Jeff Bezos, and Intel. This substantial funding will significantly advance the commercial deployment of Figure's products and provide strong support for the development of its physical robot '01'.
In this funding round, Figure also entered into a crucial technical collaboration agreement with OpenAI. The two parties will jointly leverage OpenAI's GPT series of large models to enhance the language, reasoning, and comprehension capabilities of humanoid robots. This collaboration aims to accelerate the research, development, and commercial application of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) robots, bringing more innovation to the future of intelligent robotics.
Founded in 2021, Figure's core team comprises elite members from global top-tier AI and physical robotics research teams, including Boston Dynamics, Tesla, Google DeepMind, and Archer Aviation. On April 19, 2023, Figure had already secured $70 million in Series A funding. Co-founder and CEO Brett Adcock brings extensive entrepreneurial experience, having previously co-founded urban air mobility company Archer and online recruitment platform Vettery. In terms of product specifications, Figure's '01' is a physical robot with autonomous walking capabilities, standing 1.68 meters tall, weighing 60 kilograms, with a payload capacity of 20 kilograms, a speed of 1.2 meters per second, and an electric power supply lasting up to 5 hours per charge. Unlike typical tracked robots, '01' employs more flexible bipedal locomotion, enabling it to adapt to narrow spaces such as stair climbing and mountain hiking, making its application scenarios significantly broader.
Figure stated that the technical cooperation agreement with OpenAI will integrate the research achievements of the GPT series with Figure's expertise in robot hardware and software. Upon successful implementation, this collaboration will substantially enhance the robot's language capabilities, allowing it to better collaborate with warehouse workers and accurately receive verbal commands.
This significant partnership marks a new breakthrough in the field of humanoid robots and opens up new possibilities for the development of AGI robots. We look forward to Figure and OpenAI jointly promoting the deep integration of artificial intelligence technology in practical applications, bringing more innovation and convenience to society.