OpenAI’s $25 million secret bet — 1X Robotics.
After the investment made by Microsoft , OpenAI has gone on its own investing spree . The latest and the most interesting one being 1X .
What is 1X ?
1X is an Engineering & Robotics company based out of Norway that specializes in producing androids that are capable of human-like movements , with a goal to create robots to potentially replace human labor . It was previously known as Halodi and rebranded as 1X in 2023 .
Since the rebranding they have successfully raised a series of funds from prominent players like Tiger Global , Sandwater, Alliance Ventures, Skagerak Capital raising $23.5 million led by OpenAI Startup Fund . That will go towards helping them in establishing a production line in Dallas , Texas for commercial use .
So far they have come up with 2 androids that are entirely different in application from each other . NEO and EVE are the perfect embodiment of 1X’s mission .
EVE :
Eve is an android that is primarily made to have finer motor skills , EVE’s ability to gently move, manipulate objects, and interact with the world makes it ideal for use in real-world applications. By real world applications what they mean is right now EVE can turn corners , open doors with minimal training in a facility (Teleoperated robots) . EVE is controlled using VR control and AI, where a robot operator sits at a control center with systems that show the camera, navigation, and status of the androids. This makes it an ideal solution for sectors that face labor shortages . If EVE succeeds this would potentially the first step towards androids in labor work force .
NEO :
NEO is an android that can embody AI , will explore how artificial intelligence can take form in a human-like body. Which is the the most anticipated because of the involvement of OpenAI as they already happen to be at the forefront of it .
I think the reason why OpenAI led the round of investments is to be involved in NEO and projects that are more like it . Because we have seen in the past year how much AI has pushed the benchmarks and moved into new frontiers . Now would be the ideal time to start the ground works for it’s manifestation in a physical form in the real world .
After all the Web3 , Generative AI improvements it is about time for robotics to have the limelight . There’s a lot of exciting movement happening in this scene right now . Stanford’s precision bot , UTS’s thought control , MIT’s bug-sized robots ,collaborative robots ,Teleoperated robots are some of the projects where major breakthrough is expected in the coming times .
