This AI-Robot Company Has Almost A Billion Dollars In Funding

Forbes

Armed with more than $750 million in funding, Brett Adcock vows that Figure will become one of the most important businesses in the world. First, he has a lot of work to do.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2024/04/15/meet-the-new-ai-robot-billionaire/?sh=1bb96fee7c32  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 Here's your Forbes daily briefing for Wednesday, April 17.

00:05 Today on Forbes, meet the new AI robot billionaire.

00:11 Brett Adcock, the 38-year-old founder and CEO of robot maker FIGURE, stands a few feet

00:17 from a humanoid robot lurking behind a table.

00:20 Speaking to it, he asks, "Figure 1, can you choose a healthy snack for me from that

00:25 basket?

00:27 Its options are an orange and a bag of chips."

00:30 The robot, aka Figure 1, picks up the orange using dexterous, human-like hands and gives

00:36 it to Adcock.

00:37 Then Adcock asks the robot what color shirt he's wearing.

00:40 There's a 30-second pause before the robot replies, in a slow, deep voice, "You're

00:46 wearing a dark-colored shirt."

00:47 It's correct, if not very specific.

00:50 His tee is dark gray.

00:54 Adcock is pumped about his robot, and for good reason.

00:57 In January, the company announced a collaboration with BMW, with the goal of putting FIGURE's

01:02 robots to work at the German automaker's Spartanburg, South Carolina manufacturing

01:06 plant.

01:07 Six weeks later, FIGURE raised $675 million at a $2.6 billion valuation from the likes

01:14 of Microsoft, NVIDIA, the OpenAI Startup Fund, and Jeff Bezos.

01:20 At the same time, FIGURE signed a collaboration agreement with OpenAI to develop next-generation

01:25 AI models for humanoid robots.

01:28 The valuation makes Adcock, who owns about 50% of the Sunnyvale, California company,

01:33 a new billionaire.

01:35 With his figure stake and shares from a previous startup, he's worth an estimated $1.4 billion.

01:42 The company, FIGURE, has Jetsons-like ambitions.

01:46 A future where every human will have their own humanoid robot, or maybe two.

01:50 "To do work, do the laundry, make coffee, cook dinner."

01:55 According to its founder, that'll pay off big time.

01:58 Adcock says, "This will be over time one of the most important businesses in the world.

02:04 The goal is to be a generalizable replacement for human labor."

02:09 But before any of that can happen, the two-year-old company has a mountain of challenges to work

02:13 out.

02:14 Walking, for instance, is a work in progress, as Forbes reporters witnessed during a recent

02:19 visit to FIGURE's offices.

02:21 FIGURE 1 needs about five minutes of warm-up while tethered to an overhead beam before

02:25 strolling around an open space in the middle of FIGURE's offices.

02:29 Things don't go as planned.

02:31 Mid-warm-up, the humanoid gets a kink in its mechanical hip.

02:34 Its right leg gyrates wildly at an odd angle.

02:38 After a few more minutes and a quick software fix, two FIGURE employees get the kink out.

02:43 They take the tether off and FIGURE 1 starts walking on its own, metal parts clinking with

02:47 each step.

02:50 Robots have come a long way in recent decades.

02:52 They are now routinely employed to assemble cars and move stuff around warehouses.

02:57 Some are starting to be used to collect and disseminate data on construction sites, as

03:01 Forbes has reported.

03:03 The latest twist is a surge of interest in creating AI-powered humanoid robots that do

03:08 many things, unlike robotic arms making cocktails, and learn new tasks.

03:14 A gaggle of companies is at work on these bipedal creations.

03:18 Tesla is developing one called Optimus that's likely to help assemble cars.

03:22 After Adcock tweeted about FIGURE's late February fundraising on social media platform X, Tesla

03:27 boss Elon Musk replied, "Bring it on."

03:32 There is an Oregon-based company called Agility Robotics and a Norwegian outfit named OneX,

03:37 which is backed in part by OpenAI, and raised $100 million in January.

03:42 Others include Austin, Texas-based Apptronic, which in March signed an agreement with Mercedes-Benz

03:48 for its robots.

03:50 When AI chip giant NVIDIA unveiled a new initiative to work with robot makers, nearly all the

03:54 robots on display were humanoids.

03:58 The big advantage of a humanoid robot is the obvious one.

04:02 The world we live in was designed for humans.

04:05 Jesse Kors Blankenship, a board member at FIGURE, which is backed by his Parkway Venture

04:10 Capital, says, "If you can have a safe, human-like robot that can work alongside people, the

04:16 market is just outstanding."

04:20 For full coverage, see our in-depth video about Brett Adcock and FIGURE, and check out

04:25 Carrie A. Dolan and Amy Fellman's piece on Forbes.com.

04:30 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:32 Thanks for tuning in.

04:33 [music]

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