Figure’s Post

Science fiction has often proven to be a precursor to reality - at the very least as an inspiration. As many, I’ve been going down the AI rabbit hole over the last year and found myself not playing with the next LLM iteration but humanoid robots. Brett Adcock's venture Figure just released their '01' humanoid. Full bipedal motion 12 months after company inception (see video below). Why is this a big deal? Read on... We’ve been automating tasks for decades in a quest to drive greater and greater efficiencies and remove humans from dangerous or unwanted tasks. Specific task robots have become mainstay in factories and warehouses. With all that automation, labour still accounts for over 50% of world GDP (UN). Some see in all that automation a threat - yet it's actually not going to be enough in the times that are ahead. We are facing a generational challenge in our growing list of things like tackling climate change, biodiversity loss etc: 'Boring' demographics. The world we know has enjoyed the demographic dividend of the baby boomers over the last few decades. Yet birth rates below replacement rate for decades means we are facing mass retirement, labour shortages and terminal population decline in many developed and emerging economies. Continued economic development let alone dealing with generational investment heavy challenges becomes challenging in a world where the support ratio keeps climbing, available investment dollars decline and basic activity is threatened by lack of available labour. Having humanoid robots fill that gap does sound like science fiction but in the context of the above it becomes an imperative. So, why is this finally decade for humanoids? We have seen videos of cute japanese robots (Toyota) walking on stage or jumping over obstacles and getting abused by humans (Boston Dynamics) for years. 1️⃣ Technology is converging. All the major inputs (ie. neural nets / deep learning, sensors/perception, locomotion, batteries) have been maturing. 2️⃣ More players are developing products. Figure, Tesla Optimus, Robco, Unitree. They are all benefiting from basic research and human capital from the likes of Boston Dynamics. 3️⃣ More investment dollars. VCs are slowly but surely waking up to deep tech with robotics being a key theme. Exciting times.

The coupling between perception and control here is outstanding #lowpassfilter #modulation #activeflowcontrol #disturbance

Google DeeMind introduced RoboCat, a self-improving AI agent for robotics, in its latest paper. RoboCat can learn to perform a variety of tasks across different robotic arms and then self-generate new training data to better improve its technique. Typically, robots are programmed to perform one specific task or a few tasks well, but recent advances […] #Engineering #Robotics #Recruiters

An MIT research team has developed an AI technique that allows robots to manipulate objects with their entire hand or body, instead of just their fingertips.  The post MIT researchers help robots use their whole body to manipulate objects appeared first on The Robot Report. #Engineering #Robotics #Recruiters

We’re halfway through 2024, and for the past six months, the robotics industry has continued to progress rapidly. From novel deployments and humanoid robotics developments to emerging partnerships, there was no shortage of news to cover in June 2024.  Here are the top 10 most popular stories on The Robot Report last month. Subscribe to The […] #Engineering #Robotics #Recruiters

A robot is a "mechanical person," also "person whose work or activities are entirely mechanical." Originating from the English translation of the 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Capek. In an interview in 1933, Karel admitted he considered the word ‘laboři’, from ‘labour’, but his brother Josef suggested ‘roboti’ (robots). #Translation #Etymology #Robot #Language

2024 could be a year of building robotics momentum. Source: Adobe Stock 2023 was a year of great change within the robotics industry. We’ll see ripple effects from the latest booms in artificial intelligence and humanoid robots for years to come. Entering into 2024, a number of promising technologies and use cases are primed for […] #Engineering #Robotics #Recruiters

A robot is a "mechanical person," also "person whose work or activities are entirely mechanical." Originating from the English translation of the 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Capek. In an interview in 1933, Karel admitted he considered the word ‘laboři’, from ‘labour’, but his brother Josef suggested ‘roboti’ (robots). #Translation #Etymology #Robot #Language

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