Huge funding round makes “Figure” Big Tech’s favorite humanoid robot company

Investors Microsoft, OpenAI, Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, and Intel value Figure at $2.6B.

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[jhodge]

Why the focus on humanoid robots? Even if factories and warehouses are replete with stairs, making wheels unsuitable, I'm not sure there's a need for a human shape. Why a head? Is that to make it friendlier or something to humans it might work alongside? An R-series astromech droid feels like it's built for industrial purposes (as a close second, the first thing R2 is built for is plot). This robot doesn't need to be a human to leverage human-like hands. So is there a purpose to the shape I'm missing?

IMO, the real answer is that the VCs putting up the money are middle-aged nerds who want the robots from the SF they read as kids. And I've got no problem with that. I just think it makes asking "why" fairly pointless unless & until the VC money runs dry and the robots have to show a plausible change of turning a profit. Then there will be a shake-out.