Figure is making a bold bet on an ambitious concept: paying people for video footage to train humanoid robots.
What’s happening:
- Figure has unveiled their mobile app known as Index which crowdsources first-person video footage of household and workplace tasks from paid contributors
By the numbers:
- Index has been downloaded in 108 countries and has paid out more than $15M USD to individuals creating first-person footage while operating in stealth mode
Why it matters:
- Figure has publicly stated that Index is the largest useful robot training dataset in the world
Going deeper:
- Index currently has approximately 44,000 weekly active users globally
- Figure has publicly stated that Index is part of their larger plan to spend more than $1B USD on data and compute for training humanoid robots over the next year
The intrigue:
- Figure has been aggressively investing in potential new technology breakthroughs for humanoid robotics lately, including previously launching their most advanced artificial intelligence model known as Helix 02 that can control an entire humanoid robot through walking, balancing and carrying objects
