Human-looking bipedal robots can already run, jump, breakdance, punch, and generally perform broad feats of athletic prowess most humans could only dream of. One thing they are still pretty bad at though is walking a straight line without looking like they are moments away from soiling themselves. Figure AI, one of the buzziest startups in the humanoid robot space, now says it has engineered a solution to help address their machine's stiff shuffle-step. The more natural-looking stride was achieved by analyzing thousands of virtual humanoid robots walking simultaneously in a simulated digital environment, Figure explained in a recent blog post. The company used reinforcement learning, rewarding the virtual robots for actions like synchronized arm swings, heel strikes, and toe-offs (when the toe leaves the ground) that more closely resemble human movement.

A new automated humanoid robot powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT resembles something akin to the AI Skynet from the sci-fi film Terminator While the new robot is not a killing machine, Figure 01 can perform basic autonomous tasks and carry out real-time conversations with humans - with the help of ChatGPT. The company, Figure AI, shared a demonstration video, showing how ChatGPT helps the two-legged machine visual objects, plan future actions and even reflect on its memory. Figure's cameras snap its surrounding and send them to a a large vision-language model trained by OpenAI, which than translates the images back to the robot. The clip showed a man asking the humanoid to put away dirty laundry, wash dishes and hand him something to eat - and the robot performed the tasks - but unlike ChatGPT, Figure is more hesitant when it comes to answering questions. Figure AI hopes that its first AI humanoid robot will prove capable at jobs too dangerous for human laborers and might alleviate worker shortages. 'Two weeks ago, we announced Figure OpenAI are joining forces to push the boundaries of robot learning,' Figure founder Brett Adcock wrote on X. 'Together we are developing next-generation AI models for our humanoid robots,' he added.

The funding round is nearly ten times as much as the 70 million that this new robotics firm, Figure AI, managed to raise last May. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, through his venture firm Explore Investments LLC, pledged an optimistic 100 million to the company, with Microsoft investing nearly as much, 95 million. Figure AI hopes that its first AI humanoid robot, Figure 01, will prove capable at jobs too dangerous for human laborers and might alleviate worker shortages. For now, the humanoid machine has proven itself adept at making a cup of coffee. Figure AI hopes that its first AI humanoid robot, Figure 01, will prove capable at jobs too dangerous for human laborers and might alleviate worker shortages.