The race to master the human form factor will be one of the defining tech stories of 2024. Last year saw a significant rise in this category, as companies love TeslaApptronik and Figer demonstrated their systems for the first time, while Agility neared the finish line, announcing a warehouse pilot with Amazon.
1X is a name (well, a number and a letter) that surprisingly doesn’t get as much column space as most of the above. I say “surprise” because the Norwegian company entered the conversation forcefully in April, announcing a $23.5 million round. This is one of those fundraising situations where… from More arguable issues how much.
Tiger Global’s participation is certainly notable, but it was OpenAI, which was at the top of the round, that caught the most attention. And it’s understandable, given the role the company has played in the stratospheric rise of generative AI over the past year. This core technology will almost certainly play a big role in shaping the future of robotics, and OpenAI appears to have chosen its horse.
1X announced this week that it has nearly quadrupled that already respectable number with a $100 million Series B. However, OpenAI’s name is no longer at the top of this list, with EQT Ventures receiving top billing. 1X’s fundraising now stands at $125 million.
The heart of the company’s play is NEO. The humanoid robot strikes a similar figure (so to speak) as some competitors. It also aims to address a similar problem – specifically the global labor shortage. The logic (stop me if you’ve heard this before) is that humanoids are the perfect form factor for navigating the environments created by humanoids for humans. Makes enough sense on his face, doesn’t it?
However, there is no shortage of detractors. Some suggest that such systems are over-designed. Others insist (probably rightly) that the true functions of general purposes are much further along than we are led to believe. However, that last part is one of the key places where generative AI can do a lot of the heavy lifting.
As for where the large sum of money will go, CEO Bernt Øyvind Björnich has a refreshingly serious response: Nothing. “This is the first time we have been able to offer compensation to our dedicated team. Their contributions have been pivotal to our success.”
The funds will also go towards strengthening the company’s embodied AI offering and bringing NEO to market.