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Figure, a Calif.-based firm constructing general-purpose humanoids, has closed $70 million in Series A funding. The firm, based by Brett Adcock, will use the funding to develop its Figure 01 humanoid, construct out its AI knowledge pipeline for autonomous operations and drive in the direction of commercialization.
The spherical was led by Parkway Venture Capital and joined by taking part investments from Adcock, Aliya Capital, Bold Ventures, Tamarack Global, FJ labs, and KUKA Robotics CEO Till Reuter.
We’ve but to get our eyes on Figure 01, however in keeping with the corporate’s early specs, the humanoid will stand 5-feet, 6-inches tall, weigh 60 KG and be capable of carry payloads as much as 20 KG. Figure is constructing humanoids designed for preliminary deployment into the workforce to deal with labor shortages and to assist provide chain on a worldwide scale.
In current months, Figure made hires throughout AI, controls, manipulation, notion and industrial operations. The firm’s newest rent, Bob Klunk, joined the staff as head of warehouse options to assist deliver Figure 01 into its first real-world utility. Klunk, former SVP of operations at Geodis, is a achievement operations veteran and brings over twenty years of warehouse expertise to the staff.
“We’re focused on investing in companies that are pioneers in AI technology, and we believe that autonomous humanoid robots have the potential to revolutionize the labor economy. We are impressed by the rapid progress that Brett and the team of industry experts at Figure have made in the last year and are thrilled to be a financial partner to provide resources to accelerate the commercialization of Figure 01” says Jesse Coors-Blankenship, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Parkway Venture Capital.
Adcock beforehand based Vettery and Archer Aviation. Vettery is a web based expertise market that was acquired by the Adecco Group in 2018 for $100 million. And Archer Aviation is a publicly-traded firm headquartered in San Jose that’s growing eVTOL plane. Adcock based Figure in 2022, and the corporate only recently emerged from stealth mode.
A rendering of a humanoid from Figure’s web site.
“Figure’s near-term goal is to deploy humanoids into the workforce, and we believe that the structured, repetitive, and often dangerous tasks in warehouses are a great potential first application. This investment round will support the testing of early warehouse solutions and gives us the ability to move and iterate quickly ahead of commercial operations. I look forward to growing this strategic partnership with Parkway and all participating investors to support the success of Figure,” stated CEO Adcock.
Dr. Jerry Pratt is Figure’s chief expertise officer. Pratt has devoted his life’s work to robotics and brings 20-plus years of humanoid expertise to the staff at Figure. Prior to Figure, Pratt was a principal investigator on the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). At IHMC, he constructed a robotics staff concentrated across the understanding and modeling of strolling and steadiness, with functions in robotics, human assistive gadgets, and man-machine interfaces. He was the staff lead for the DARPA Robotics Challenge, through which Team IHMC gained second place within the finals.
Adcock would be the visitor on this week’s episode of The Robot Report Podcast the place he discusses the challenges of commercializing humanoids. Figure is a part of a handful of corporations at present working to construct humanoids to carry out real-world work. Agility Robotics, which earlier this week named Melonee Wise CTO, is at present the additional together with its Digit humanoid that’s concentrating on box-moving functions in warehouses.
Others to keep watch over embody Apprtonik, Sanctuary AI and Tesla. From a mobility standpoint, Boston Dynamics‘ Atlas stays essentially the most refined humanoid ever constructed, however it stays an R&D mission.