A startup of human-co-founded humanoid robots by artificial intelligence Ray Kurzweil announced on Tuesday that the risk capital company Gauntlet Ventures will support its $ 100 million series B financing round.
Kurzweil is known to popularize the term “singularity,” when he predicted two decades ago, that by 2045 artificial intelligence would overcome human intelligence and embark on a path of acceleration of self -improvement. These ideas, which once seemed to be science fiction, are now seen as a trend by many technologists.
His company, Beyond Imagination, will be valued at $ 500 million, and Gauntlet Ventures will be the only investor of the round.
Beyond Imagination is co-founded by scientist, businessman and filmmaker Harry Kloor. The company has developed a humanoid robot – Beyond Bot – and AI models that accompany it and which aims to deploy in industrial environments, said Oliver Carmack, co -founder of Gauntlet Ventures.
The company has tested its robots and is now looking for large companies in which they can be implemented, said Carmack, adding that he has chosen to support Beyond Imagination because of his potential for manufacturing in the United States and dealing with the projected global scarcity of qualified labor.
Large technology companies, including Nvidia, Meta and Tesla, along with several startups, are running to make humanoid robots and are betting that recent AI advances will also lead to robots and automation advances. In October last year, Tesla’s executive, Elon Musk, said that “a lot of progress” was done with his humanoid robot, Optimus, who could perform many daily tasks.
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However, robot progress has been slow, as researchers have found that language -related AI advances that boost chatbots development did not necessarily help understand the physical world. Many companies are spending huge sums to collect real -world training data needed for AI models that can be installed on robots.
In addition to humanoid robots, Beyond Imagination is also developing the aura, which Kloor has described as a universal operating system for intelligent manufacturing, allowing human, robots and old machines to work together.
Beyond Imagination has attracted an eclectic list of consultants, including former Qualcomm Executive, Paul Jacobs, motivational speaker Tony Robbins and former Paramount Pictures President Jim Gianopulos.
