C-3PO Style Humanoid Robots Thrive From Surge in AI Development

A collateral beneficiary of the feverish pace of generative artificial intelligence development appears to be the humanoid robot. A Norwegian company called 1X Technologies, formerly Halodi Robotics, which describes itself as a manufacturer and inventor of androids, recently attracted $23.5 million in a round of funding led by the OpenAI Startup Fund -- the same OpenAI that got the AI snowball rolling with its ChatGPT generative AI bot. "1X is at the forefront of augmenting labor through the use of safe, advanced technologies in robotics," Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's COO and manager of the OpenAI Startup Fund, said in a statement. "The OpenAI Startup Fund believes in the approach and impact that 1X can have on the future of work." With the funds, 1X said it intends to accelerate the development of its bipedal android model NEO and expand manufacturing of its first commercially available wheel-based android, EVE, in Norway and North America.