OPENAI
OpenAI is diving back into robotics after disbanding its robotics department years ago.
The company is now sharing its ambitious plans to develop advanced robots, with new job listings and a post by Caitlin Kalinowski, OpenAI's hardware director, shedding light on their strategy.
The focus is on creating "general-purpose" and "adaptive" robots equipped with custom sensors and powered by OpenAI’s internally developed AI models.
These robots are designed for dynamic, real-world environments and aim to seamlessly integrate AI with physical systems.
Key insights from OpenAI’s job listings include:
Developing new sensors and computational systems for robots with human-like intelligence.
Exploring various robot designs, potentially including humanoid robots with limbs.
Targeting mass production, with a goal of creating hardware suited for large-scale manufacturing.
AI brains, mechanical bodies
OpenAI isn’t alone in this space. Robotics raised over $6.4 billion in venture capital funding last year, reflecting the sector’s enormous potential.
Startups like Bear Robotics and Carbon Robotics are carving out niches, while humanoid robots by companies like X1 and Figure continue to dominate headlines.
Despite advancements, creating scalable humanoid robots remains a significant challenge, as past failures in robotics highlight.
In addition to robots, OpenAI is working on other hardware projects, including a collaboration with Jony Ive on a new device and designing a custom chip for running its AI models.
One million robots in production? Okay, but when will they be available on Amazon Prime?