Figure-01 Humanoid Robot Serves Up A Storm, Overshadows Tesla's Optimus In Coffee Skills

California-based AI startup’s humanoid bot seemingly outperforms Tesla Inc‘s TSLA Optimus with its coffee-making abilities.

What Happened: On Sunday, Figure posted a short, one-minute video of its humanoid bot called Figure-01 making coffee on a Keurig coffee machine. The video shows the robot responding to a verbal request for coffee, inserting a K-cup in the coffee chamber, and turning on the machine.

However, the mug is placed on the drip tray by a human who also retrieves it once the coffee is made. The robot does not offer the coffee by hand.

The company said the bot learned to make coffee by watching humans do it for about ten hours. Though the bot initially made mistakes while placing the cup in the chamber, it later corrected itself.

According to Corey Lynch, Senior AI Engineer of robot manipulation at Figure, all the robots’ behaviors, including the corrective ones, are fully autonomous and not teleoperated. “I'm incredibly excited to see our hardware, hands, controls, and learning teams working so quickly and well together,” he said.

“This is end-to-end AI: our neural networks are taking video in, trajectories out,” company CEO Brett Adcock said. Figure intends its robots for corporate tasks, alleviating labor shortages, and performing unsafe tasks.

Why It Matters: Tesla, meanwhile, revealed its upgraded Gen 2 Optimus in December. The Gen 2 Optimus can walk 30% faster than the previous generation, is 22 lbs (10 Kg) lighter, and has improved body control, including hands. This enables the bot to handle delicate objects such as eggs with the added help of tactile sensing on its fingers. Tesla did not clarify if Optimus could make coffee.

“So much engineering has gone into the hands. In a year, it will be able to thread a needle,” Musk, however, said in a post.

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