5 Hurdles to Building Humanoid Robots

Robots are hard.

Everyday tasks like unloading a dishwasher are still a big challenge for robots.

Here are 5 hurdles we face (and how we plan to overcome them): pic.twitter.com/6VrKmqMxAz

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

Context:

Figure is building general purpose humanoid robots.

These robots can eliminate the need for unsafe and undesirable jobs.

For reference, there are >10 million of these unfilled jobs in the U.S. alone.

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

Our world was built for the human form-factor.

That's why our humanoid robots resemble the human body in shape.

This creates an upfront technical investment.

But if successful, the platform hardware can be amortized in a wide variety of applications.

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

Challenge: System Hardware

Our team is designing a fully electromechanical humanoid, including hands.

The goal is to develop hardware with the physical capabilities of a non-expert human.

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

We're measuring this in terms of range of motion, payload, torque, cost of transport and speed.

We'll continue to improve through rapid cycles of development, each cycle as part of a continuum.

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

Challenge: Unit Cost

We’re aiming to reduce individual humanoid unit costs to affordable levels.

We’ll achieve this through high-rate volume manufacturing &economies of scale.

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

We are ultimately measuring our costs through the fully burdened operating cost/hour.

At high rates of volume manufacturing, I am optimistic unit cost will come down to affordable levels.

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

Challenge: Safety

It’s essential that our humanoids are able to interact with humans in the workplace safely.

We are designing them by adhering to industry standards and corporate requirements.

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

Challenge: Volume Manufacturing

We foresee not only needing to deliver a high quality product, but also needing to deliver it at an exceptionally high volume.

We anticipate a steep learning curve as we exit prototyping and enter volume manufacturing.

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

We are preparing for this by being thoughtful about design for:

→ Manufacturing
→ System safety
→ Reliability
→ Quality

And all other production planning.

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

Challenge: Artificial Intelligence

We won’t have a scalable business with humans in the loop.

Building an AI system that enables our humanoids to perform everyday tasks autonomously is arguably one of the hardest problems we face long-term.

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

We are tackling this by building intelligent embodied agents that can interact with complex and unstructured real-world environments.

Our AI team consists of learned policies within Manipulation, Perception, Prediction, and Behaviors

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023

No one has cracked the code on commercial humanoid robots yet.

We are looking to be the first, and build the top company in the world along they way.

Follow @Figure_robot for updates on:

→ Robots
→ Company progress
→ Career opportunities

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) March 10, 2023