FIGURE AI is a start-up robotics company that has attracted investments of $675 million from such players as Microsoft, Nvidia, Intel, OpenAI, and Jeff Bezos himself. The robot, Figure 01, is billed as an autonomous AI-powered multi-purpose humanoid robot suitable for dangerous and undesirable tasks. As soon as you see one, you think of the Terminator. At least it doesn’t have a skull for a face, although Figure AI’s website does have a section called ‘master plan’, along with a lot of jargon, mission statements, and ‘visions’. The ominous appearance is somewhat undercut when you see it move, as it shuffles about like an octogenarian. Tesla is working on a similar machine, Optimus Gen-1, so it looks as if something along these lines will come to market in the near future.
–CL