Figure 01 is designed to join the low-skilled workforce.

A robotics startup building general purpose humanoid robots has raised 70 million dollars in a Series A funding round. The company, called Figure, will use the new capital to accelerate the development of its humanoid robot Figure 01, build out the data pipeline for autonomous operations, and plan the commercialization process. 

Contributors to this round are Parkway Venture Capital, Aliya Capital, Bold Capital Partners, Tamarack Global, FJ labs, Kuka Robotics CEO Till Reuter, and Figure CEO Brett Adcock.

Figure intends to deploy humanoid robots to employers in need for low-skilled workers such as warehouse porters, receptionists, waiters and cleaners, expecting to upgrade the machines for a broader use in various professions.

For now, the company focuses on models required for autonomous repetitive actions of moderate to high physical strength in unsafe and undesirable jobs.

In recent months, Figure has hired a substantial human labor for its AI, Controls, Manipulation, Perception, and Commercial Operations departments.

The company was founded by Brett Adcock, who acts as its CEO. A long-time technology entrepreneur, Adcock has been building companies for 20 years, but now his sole focus is Figure. Prior to this assignment, Brett founded Vettery, an online talent marketplace, and Archer Aviation, an aerospace company building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to improve mobility in cities.

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Archer Aviation is now a publicly traded company at the New York Stock Exchange, valued at 2.7 billion dollars. Vettery was acquired in 2018 by The Adecco Group, the world’s largest recruiting company, for 110 million dollars.

Figure 01 is an AI-powered and self-reliant prototype, which is capable of producing an abundance of affordable, more widely available goods and services to a degree which humanity has never seen, the company boasts on its website.