Source: Geek Park
Author: Mei Yi
Editor: Jing Yu
Image Source: Generated by Wujie AI
In addition to AI, the hottest trend in the tech industry at the moment is the "humanoid robot" race, without a doubt.
In 2023, as Tesla, Apptronik, and Figure, among other companies, unveiled their products for the first time, Agility announced a warehouse trial in collaboration with Amazon, intensifying the competition in the field of humanoid robots.
At the beginning of the new year, 1X Technologies, a humanoid robot startup from Norway, announced that it had completed a $100 million Series B financing.
In fact, 1X not only received substantial financial support, but also the backing of the AI giant OpenAI.
In March of last year, 1X secured a $23.5 million financing round led by OpenAI's venture capital fund, becoming the first hardware company invested in by OpenAI. In fact, the two had already begun their collaboration in 2022, when they decided to jointly develop AI models for robots.
So, what advantages does the robot company 1X have that won the favor and support of OpenAI? In its pursuit of realizing the human "robot dream," what shining points does this company have compared to companies like Tesla?
01 "EVE" and "NEO"
Currently, 1X offers two robot products, EVE and NEO. From the names, it is clear that 1X has big ambitions - one is the mother of humanity, and the other is the savior of the cyberpunk world ("The Matrix").
EVE and NEO, two robot products | Image Source: 1X Official Website
EVE is 1X's early product, designed as a wheeled robot for work environments, mainly used in industrial, logistics, retail, and security fields.
According to 1X, EVE is the first humanoid robot in human history to successfully enter the workplace. Currently, EVE has been put into commercial use in some regions of the United States and Europe, performing tasks such as patrolling in factories, assisting in logistics and handling in the manufacturing industry, and navigating and standing guard inside buildings.
EVE performing tasks in the logistics field | Image Source: 1X Official Website
It is worth mentioning that EVE's benchmark product is Musk's robot Optimus Prime, and the two have significant overlap in terms of functionality and commercialization, but EVE defeated Optimus Prime in a robot competition last year.
NEO is 1X's newly developed core product.
1X has designed it as a bipedal robot, modeling it after human muscle movement, and has designed it with "high precision" and "gentleness," covering it with a layer of soft material on top of an aluminum core, making it soft and lightweight like a human, and fundamentally "safe," without pinch points or other dangers.
Therefore, NEO can walk freely, communicate through facial expressions, improve operational efficiency, and ensure user safety.
Bipedal robot NEO, 165 cm tall, 30 kg in weight | Image Source: 1X Official Website
NEO is still in the research and development stage. 1X plans to officially release NEO in 2024 and begin mass production in Norway and North America.
In order to truly "enter" the real world, 1X has also designed a robot system, combining compliant "transparent transmission devices" with its independently developed "high-torque density motors" (Revo1), achieving the safety, flexibility, and intelligence of the robots:
Safety
Their mechanical structure is organic and soft, making them safer inside and out, able to enter human environments at any time.
Flexibility
They can move like humans, perceive the surrounding environment, and interact with it, able to perform various delicate human activities such as turning, opening doors, and lifting objects.
Intelligence
1X combines a "body" similar to humans with "AI large models" of advanced language and autonomous motion models, allowing humans to naturally converse with 1X robots, and they can also act as required. They operate autonomously by default, but users can also control them remotely to prevent them from entering dangerous areas or being unable to complete specific tasks.
More importantly, they can continuously learn and improve in interaction, becoming smarter and more capable, opening up new possibilities for assistance and productivity improvement for humans.
02 "Teaching by Example" for Robots
How were 1X's robots trained to be so powerful?
1X emphasizes the necessity of training and deploying humanoid robots in the real world. They believe that "if humanoid robots are to play a role in our world, they need to experience the real world."
In a blog post, 1X explained, "The real world is where massive data and data diversity are located, so 1X's robots do not involve fixed algorithms, but more practical learning. We hope that in this way, AI models will have a richer understanding of the world. This is very important for the next development of AI. This is also the reason why 1X decided to manufacture robots for consumers."
Interestingly, this aligns with OpenAI's strategy of "building AGI systems through real-world feedback."
Therefore, 1X independently developed complex AI technology for "embodied learning" to train robots.
Using VR technology, 1X operators remotely train robots in the studio to complete tasks, effectively combining human intelligence with AI efficiency.
Specifically, 1X operators in the studio in Moss, Norway, guide robots through various real scenarios using VR Teleop, intuitively understanding the difficulty and feasibility of tasks. Moreover, 1X operators not only demonstrate how they physically perform tasks, but also show their thought process, so that the training data is labeled with their thought process.
1X operator studio guiding robots through various real scenarios using VR Teleop | Image Source: 1X Official Website
This interaction provides a unique dataset, enabling robots to understand and adapt to various patterns and behaviors. After collecting diverse data on a large scale, the robot learns a new skill.
According to 1X CEO Børnich, "Our primary method of teaching robots to do things is through human expert demonstration teaching, cloning human behavior and human thinking into machines. This is very similar to the method of training large language models." "LLMs (large language models) can handle a wide range of problems, and this progress can be transferred to 1X's AI system, enabling robots to adapt to various situations without making unsafe decisions."
In addition, 1X has created a valuable data feedback loop through a process called "shared autonomy," further enhancing the robots' learning and adaptability.
This involves human-robot collaboration, meaning that robots can request human intervention for complex tasks. For example, when EVE encounters unexpected situations during autonomous patrols (such as a blocked door), it may need human assistance.
Currently, 1X has 50 robots performing various tasks in warehouses in Norway, collecting diverse data and learning how to work in the real world.
In summary, 1X's core competitiveness lies in combining advanced humanoid robot technology with "embodied learning" AI technology for data collection, placing the company at the forefront of AI robot technology.
03 OpenAI's "Robot Fantasy"
1X was founded by Bernt Øyvind Børnich in 2014 and is headquartered in Norway, with the company formerly known as Halodi Robotics.
The company's mission is to "design robots that work alongside humans to meet the world's labor needs and build prosperous societies."
In March 2021, 1X secured a $13 million Series A financing, and in April 2023, it received Series A2 financing led by OpenAI's venture capital fund, as well as support from Tiger Global and a group of Norwegian investors, with a post-investment valuation of approximately $100-200 million.
OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap publicly stated, "Investing in 1X is aimed at the maturity of robot hardware and its ability to expand into a broader labor market with the support of AI."
With the help of OpenAI's "investment funds" and "technical support," 1X's robot computing capabilities have been further enhanced.
1X has successfully integrated the GPT series models into its robots, significantly enhancing the robots' anthropomorphism. This transformation allows 1X robots to easily perform many actions that were previously difficult for robots, such as turning, opening doors, cooking, lifting objects, and intelligent conversations.
In the future, with the use of the multimodal large model GPT-4, robots may be able to generate and understand images, further expanding their application areas.
As GPT becomes more intelligent and even develops autonomous consciousness, 1X robots will better integrate into human life.
Regarding future cooperation between 1X and OpenAI, 1X Product Manager Eric Jang stated, "We are not exclusively bound to OpenAI and are still testing various large language models for language-to-action conversion, connecting language models with the real world. At the same time, 1X is also developing its own action and task-specific models."
1X Product Manager Eric Jang also added, "We hope to create a universal robot. 1X is one of the few companies internationally that truly focuses on combining 'large model software' and 'robot hardware.' On one hand, we hope to directly control robots using natural language based on ChatGPT. On the other hand, we will also accumulate and train visual and tactile data, ultimately achieving environmental interaction and universal control."
In addition to OpenAI, another tech giant, NVIDIA, also plays an important role in 1X's development.
Last year, NVIDIA announced how it uses large language models (LLMs) to automatically generate reward algorithms to train robots to complete complex tasks. In response, 1X stated, "NVIDIA's software can help us expand and deploy AI, making it a very good partnership, and so far, NVIDIA has not entered the hardware field to manufacture its own robots."
At the beginning of this year, 1X announced another $100 million Series B financing, led by the well-known Swedish venture capital fund EQT Ventures.
As for the destination of this substantial funding, 1X CEO Børnich replied, "This is the first time we have provided compensation for our professional team. Their contribution is crucial to our success."
Furthermore, this funding will be used to expand the "embodied intelligence" data collection strategy and strengthen the market promotion of the NEO robot.
Today, 1X is manufacturing robots on a commercial scale, but the specific prices of its robots have not been disclosed, and the company's specific growth figures are still unknown.
Several customer names prominently displayed on the company's website are Norwegian hospital Sunnass and charging service company Everon, both of which have deployed approximately 250 robots for nighttime security in commercial buildings.
In fact, the competition in the field of humanoid robots is fierce, with not only "professional players" like 1X leading the way, but also many eager "external players" vying for position, such as automotive giants like Tesla and Honda, as well as large tech companies like Xiaomi and Google.
In the future, with the participation of industry giants in technology, automotive, and the continuous advancement and application of AI technologies such as ChatGPT, humanoid robots are expected to penetrate various niche fields and become the next important application scenario for AI.
According to Markets and Markets, the market size of humanoid robots is expected to reach $17.3 billion by 2027.
OpenAI's generative AI technology will undoubtedly play an important role in the future development of robots.
1X also stated, "In 10 or 30 years, physical robots will become an integral part of our work and life. We hope that these innovations will bring sustainable prosperity, where robots powered by renewable energy can produce goods and services at negligible costs and minimal impact on the environment."
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