Looking to disrupt the industry with humanoid-style bipedal AI-driven robots, Figure AI Inc. today announced that it has raised $70 million in a Series A round led by Parkway Venture Capital to drive its vision of commercializing a robotic workforce.

Most workforce robots take on specific tasks based on single-function designs that do specific tasks extremely well, such as picking up objects and manipulating them, driving them from place to place, or operating tools. These robots are often boxy, wheeled and covered in gripper arms. However, factory floors, warehouses and businesses were built by humans and for humans, which means that the human form is still arguably the best standard for opening doors, climbing stairs and using tools.

Enter Figure 01, the company’s autonomous humanoid robot, which the company introduced publicly when it emerged from stealth mode in March. Still in the design stage, although it has some pre-working models, the company has produced numerous renderings of how it will operate that provide a stunning almost science fiction potential for its future vision of robotic labor.

The robot itself looks impressive, standing five feet, six inches tall, weighing about 124 pounds and walking about four feet per second. It will run entirely on electric power and operate for five hours at a time. Currently, it looks like a figure wearing a charcoal-black motorcycle suit but with no face — except a sleek black screen. As a humanoid, the Figure 01 includes “cutting-edge AI” that is supposed to help it do tasks beyond manufacturing and logistics, and allow it to use humanlike dexterity to complete routines.

According to the company, Figure 01 has gone through its build, integration and testing for an alpha prototype in the past twelve months.

“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,” said Brett Adcock, founder and chief executive of Figure. “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.”

Humanoid robots have long been a vision for industrial, retail and domestic applications, but many challenges have kept their development at bay. Tesla Inc. unveiled its own humanoid robot, dubbed “Optimus,” last year that shared AI software and sensors with its cars. Boston Dynamics built “Atlas,” a looming bipedal robot that is capable of impressive mobility, including leaping, parkour and carrying a bag of tools. However, neither of these examples has any commercial applications yet — and probably won’t for some time.

Behind the scenes, Figure has been rapidly scaling up its operations and hiring employees to meet the demands of finding those commercial applications. The company revealed that it now has 50 employees and brought on leading robotics experts such as Dr. Jerry Pratt, who joined as Figure’s chief technology officer, bringing his humanoid robotics development experience of more than 20 years to the role.

Figure said that the first commercialization efforts for the Figure 01 humanoid robots will be aimed at industries where labor shortages have been the most critical, such as manufacturing, shipping and logistics, warehousing and retail.

Image: Figure