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Safety is often overlooked in the rush to bring humanoid robots to the workplace . As gamey - visibility corporation rove from retailers likeAmazonto carmakers such asMercedesandBMWhave announced humanoid pilots for factories and warehouses , conversations around worker condom are on a regular basis buried beneath industry hype .
One Bay Area robotics business firm is trust to correct that deficit .
Figure AI harbinger Tuesday it is building a Center for the Advancement of Humanoid Safety , an in - sign of the zodiac division wholly focused on the topic . Rob Gruendel , the former Amazon Robotics safety engineer who is steer up the projection , let on the plansvia a LinkedIn post .
Earlier factory and warehouse system address the safety trouble by caging in big , heavy robots . Subsequent solutions have turned to engineering , let in sophisticated electronic computer vision , software developed byVeo Robotics , and asafety vestdesigned by Amazon to avail keep automaton from crashing into people .
Amazon ’s wearable is designed solely for internal usage and likely wo n’t come along alfresco of its own fulfillment centers . Even with that technology , the company still uses protective cage for many of its robot . Veo Robotics , meanwhile , wasabsorbed into Symbotic in 2024 . More late , Symbotic hastaken the reinsof Walmart ’s robotics division .
While valuate for its adaptability , multi - purpose functionality , and ability to mix into existingbrownfield storage warehouse , the humanoid form factor usher in a unexampled stage set of safety headache . After all , one of the category ’s fundamental selling points is its ability to shape alongside humans . Their adult , metal body — ranging freely inside manufactory and storage warehouse — have the potential difference to cause injuries by collide with their soft , fleshier colleagues .
Workplace safety organizations like Occupational Safety and Health Administration ( OSHA ) have a lot of enchant up to do in terms of mechanization safety regulation . Today there are no “ specific OSHA standard for the robotics industry,”according to the Union agency . This broader headache needs to be address , but regulation specifically targeting humanoids is peculiarly seasonable .
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Figure AI is homing in on that gap .
“ One of our recent successes was to finalize a formal plan with our Occupational Safety and Health Administration recognized main testing laboratory to certify our robot ’s battery , functional rubber control system , and electric system to industrial standards , ” Gruendel noted in the declaration mail .
Fetch founding father , Melonee Wise , has made the subject of humanoid safety a key focal point sincejoining Agility Roboticsas chief engineering science officer in 2023 .
“ With any android robot operating in this space , condom is not absolved , ” Wise differentiate meduring a humanoids panelat last year ’s Automate conference . “ There is n’t an easy stop for [ Tesla ’s ] Optimus . There is n’t a period on many [ humanoid golem ] , and that is against the safety standard . It ’s very clear that many of the company are not interested in it . ”
The creation of the Center for the Advancement of Humanoid Safety is an authoritative step on that journey for Figure .
“ We recognize that the general population is often at the mercifulness of the applied science expert to estimate whether an AI - hold in robot can be safe , ” Gruendel pen . “ We require to speak directly with our customer . We will examine and communicate the automaton ’s stability while stationary , stableness while locomote , detection of humans , detective work of four - legged pet , safe AI behaviors , and pilotage to prevent injury . We will listen to suggestions from our customers on ways to try the safety of image 02 and beyond . ”
Figure plans to put out quarterly update offering more transparency around the process . The account will include examination subprogram and hole for likely hazard .
“ We will summarise our successes and bankruptcy , ” according to Gruendel .
Those success and nonstarter could eventually close up the spread on base hit and prepare the industry for the next swelled leap : bring robots into the abode .
Humanoid safety standards are localize to become increasingly essential as more firms push to bring these robots into the home .
