Brett Adcock

“My company before this designed like flying robots at Archer and it's got the same properties... It's a robot. And Archer's aircrafts are like highly overactuated.”

“Moritz, can you show her what would happen if we lost like a left knee?... This is kudos to the controls team. I think we have like one of the best controls team in the world.”

“We have an industrial design team here internally run by David... We want to create something that is really delightful to be around. And it's not just like the way the robot looks or the size of it. It's how it walks and interacts and how it's body language and how the human machine interaction is.”

“Brett Adcock — CEO and founder of Figure AI. Serial entrepreneur (previously founded Archer Aviation, took it public).”

“What is the same thing for humanoids? What are the same humanoids to be able to do like dishes and laundry, but also do some like package logistics and healthcare and their stuff.”

“About a year ago, we made a strong pivot away from code into neural networks... I think the team has probably shown like, I think some of the best neural networks for control in the world on humanoids.”

“I don't think there's any group in the world that I wouldn't think on the robotic side that makes the designs more parts than we do on the robot. We design the motors, basically every part within there, the rotor, stator, everything. The sensors, the structure, the kinematics, the joints, the batteries... That has really enabled us to control our destiny.”

“Jeff Bezos, which is a big investor for us at Figure. I get to basically have access to and talk with.”

“We had a small batch of robots that went out to BMW last year and did work every day. We ran for six months every single day... We refactored our whole approach to how to commercialize the software and AI systems after that. And that kind of led us to Helix 2.”

“There's a technology that was designed at NASA Jet Propulsion Lab about a decade ago that can detect weapons underneath clothes and in backpacks and bags from like 10, 20 meters away.”

“Right now we interact with AI through like 20 year old computers, like phones and MacBooks and stuff like that. And they're just not the ideal intermediary and interface to AI.”

“We're now in a good spot to certify the aircraft and enter like federal airspace.”

“I own the IP from NASA Jet Propulsion Lab. I spun it out two years ago and I'm funding this project... we will deploy hopefully to our first schools in beta by end of year.”

“We're building really awesome, magical AI models. And we're building really magical hardware.”

“We just want humanoid robots to work, they're working now & it's pretty simple.. we're seeing robots do everyday things like clean up a living room, do commercial work.”

“In my mind, this is not a manufacturing problem. This is an intelligence problem.”

“The BMW pilot — a small batch of Figure robots deployed and running every day for six months — is the clearest proof point. The learnings from that deployment directly produced Figure's next-generation AI model, Helix 2.”

“This logic also explains why Figure ended its OpenAI collaboration. Sharing visibility into its robotics intelligence with a partner that was simultaneously developing interest in the space was an untenable position.”

“In my mind, this is not a manufacturing problem. This is an intelligence problem.”

“Molly O'Shea participated as a participant in the Sourcery Newsletter podcast featuring Brett Adcock.”

“The meta problem in robotics is to be able to solve a humanoid robot. If you can solve this, it'll build the biggest business in the world by a large factor. A little under half the world's GDP is human labor.”