SoftBank este în negocieri pentru a investi 500 de milioane de dolari în SkildAI, o companie de software care dezvoltă un foundational model (rețele neuronale de mari dimensiuni, antrenate prin intermediul unor baze de date. Practic, aici se referă la un fel de creier care poate fi atașat la roboți; N.red.) pentru robotică, la o evaluare de 4 miliarde de dolari, potrivit Bloomberg și Financial Times. SkildAI, evaluat la la 1.5 miliarde de dolari în 2024. Compania, fondată acum doi ani, a strâns anterior 300 de milioane de dolari într-o rundă de finanțare din iulie anul trecut, și a ajuns la o evaluare de 1.5 miliarde de dolari, conform TechCrunch. Printre investitori s-au numărat Jeff Bezos, Lightspeed Venture Partners și Coatue Management

Facing rising competition in the AI chip space, Nvidia is reportedly turning to robotics. The $3.3 trillion company, whose tech has helped drive the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), will launch the next version  of compact computers for humanoid robots — dubbed Jetson Thor — in the first half of next year, the Financial Times (FT) reported Sunday (Dec. 29). According to the report, Nvidia is jockeying to become the top platform in what it argues is a coming robotics boom

For example, Figure recently launched the Figure 02, a humanoid robot aimed at commercial use, which can autonomously perform a variety of tasks.

Figure AI has garnered robust financial support, securing $675 million in a Series B funding round led by tech industry giants such as OpenAI, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Jeff Bezos.

Robotics startup Figure has released a video showcasing its Figure 02 humanoid robot performing tasks autonomously at its headquarters, specifically for a BMW use case.

Adcock says that Figure is currently scaling up by hiring as many as 100 engineers across various sectors, including AI, software engineering, controls, mechanical, systems integration, and fleet operations.

Decrypt’s Art, Fashion, and Entertainment Hub. Discover SCENERobotics startup Figure AI has unveiled the brand new Figure 02, the latest iteration of its humanoid robots following the debut of its Figure 01 model in March. The new model features significant upgrades, including enhanced AI systems, improved computer vision with six AI-powered RGB cameras, and a redesigned battery pack.Some changes give the model some advantages over its competitors, like its brand new set of hands. The new iteration has 16 degrees of freedom, which is more than any top-of-the-line robot—but still way less than a real human hand, which has 27 degrees of freedom.Figure says its update also brings an inference system that processes information three times faster than the previous model, with 50% more runtime compared to its latest generation, and AI-powered learning and self-corrections for working tasks.ADADFigure AI has partnered with OpenAI to bring advanced language and visual processing to their robots. An earlier demo of its Figure 01 model showcased real-time conversations and task completion driven by AI. Figure's senior AI engineer, Corey Lynch, explained that it could "describe its visual experience, plan future actions, reflect on its memory, and explain its reasoning verbally." This has also been improved in Figure 02.Figure AI recently secured a $2.6 billion valuation after raising $675 million from investors including Microsoft, OpenAI, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos

BMW hat kürzlich in seinem Werk in Spartanburg, South Carolina, einen humanoiden Roboter von Figure AI getestet. Dieser soll potenziell die Automobilproduktion revolutionieren. Der Figure 02 Roboter wurde für die Integration in den Produktionsprozess getestet. Laut Brett Adcock, Gründer und CEO von Figure AI, hat der Roboter bedeutende technische Fortschritte erzielt. Diese sollen es ihm ermöglichen, eine breite Palette komplexer Aufgaben vollständig autonom auszuführen. „Wir freuen uns, den Figure 02, unseren Roboter der zweiten Generation, vorzustellen, der kürzlich erfolgreiche Tests im BMW Group Werk Spartanburg abgeschlossen hat“, sagte Adcock

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More. Keeping its promise from last week, OpenAI-backed Figure, the startup racing to build AI-powered robots for household and factory work, has unveiled the next generation of its humanoid – Figure 02.Available to select enterprises at this stage, Figure 02 marks a significant upgrade over Figure 01, which first appeared earlier this year doing basic chores like moving dishes into a drying rack while conversing with its instructor. The new model, as the demo shows, has been perfected with an exoskeleton-based structure that enables it to handle heavier items more easily. VIDEO

Nvidia announced this week a suite of new services and tools aimed at speeding up the development of humanoid robots as the company seeks to position itself at the forefront of this emerging technology. The chipmaker introduced new microservices for robot simulation, a cloud computing orchestration service, and an AI-enabled workflow for capturing human movements to train robots. These offerings are designed to help robotics companies, AI developers and software makers create more advanced humanoid robots quicker. Experts say the development of humanoid robots could have implications for commerce and industry. These robots, with their human-like form and potential for complex movements, could revolutionize manufacturing, warehousing and customer service sectors. They may be able to perform tasks that are challenging for traditional robots, such as navigating cluttered environments or manipulating objects with human-like dexterity

Tesla will begin using humanoid robots next year, according to CEO Elon Musk. “Tesla will have genuinely useful humanoid robots in low production for Tesla internal use next year and, hopefully, high production for other companies in 2026,” Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday (July 22) morning. As with many Musk pronouncements that make headlines, this one came in response to a post from another user, who had put up a chart showing former OpenAI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo’s predictions for advances in artificial intelligence (AI)