Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, May 24 / PRNewswire-Asianet /-- an American artificial intelligence start-up company named Figure has announced that it has received the first round of external financing of $70 million (CTOnews.com Note: about 494 million yuan) led by Parkway Venture Capital to build universal humanoid robots.

Tuyuan Pixabay said the money would be used to accelerate the development and manufacture of its first autonomous humanoid robot, which is expected to be launched in the coming months. The company is only a year old and its valuation is not disclosed, but people familiar with the matter say it is valued at more than $400m. Brett Adcock, founder and CEO of Figure, personally invested $20 million, and other investors included Aliya Capital and Bold Ventures.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Figure aims to develop universal humanoid robots that can work in different environments and handle a variety of tasks, from warehousing to retail. The company said it was in talks with retailers about commercialization opportunities. Adcock, a former co-founder of Archer Aviation, said Figure differs from other robotics companies such as Boston Dynamics and Amazon Robots in that the robots they develop can handle general tasks and eventually enable the robot to learn and interact with the environment.

"We believe that universal humanoid robots have greater potential than single-function robots," Adcock said. "deploying them to the labour market can help solve labor shortages and, over time, eliminate unsafe and unpopular jobs."

Big technology companies and startups like Figure are scrambling to develop the next generation of humanoid robots with commercial value. For example, Tesla unveiled a prototype of his humanoid robot "Optimus" last year, and its chief executive Elon Musk predicted that Tesla would be able to accept orders for the robot within three to five years and sell it for less than $20, 000.

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