While much of the startup funding for food-centric robots has been for task-specific fast-automation from the likes of Picnic Robot and Chef Robotics, some of the more intriguing – and creepy – action is happening with humanoid robots.
The latest entry into the “watch a humanoid robot handle kitchen tasks” files is from Figure, which just showed off the latest capabilities of the Figure 01 robot by showing how it can identify food and sort through kitchen tasks.
What really stands out to me is the weirdly human voice of the robot, which includes very human-like pauses and slight stammers. As an example, in one exchange, a human interviewer asks Figure 01 to explain why it handed over an apple. Figure 01 responds with a quick “On it” and then goes on to explain, complete with an “uh” pause that makes you almost think there’s an actor behind the curtain spitting out the lines.
You can watch for yourself below. The exchange I am talking about happens 48 seconds into the video.
According to Figure, the latest release showcased in the video illustrates how it has put OpenAI’s large language models to work to provide high-level visual and language intelligence, while its neural networks are responsible for powering the almost human-like dexterity of the robot. The company has raised an eye-popping $754 million in funding.
