Watch the Jeff Bezos-backed AI robots fold laundry and put away eggs

• Jeff Bezos just invested in an artificial intelligence startup that creates digital brains for robots.
• With Physical Intelligence software, robots can perform various tasks.
• The company’s videos show robots folding laundry, moving tables and assembling boxes.

Jeff Bezos’ latest investment is an artificial intelligence startup that’s trying to create software for robots that can perform a variety of tasks — from folding laundry to clearing tables after a meal.

The startup, Physical Intelligence, has raised $400 million in funding in a round led by Amazon’s executive chairman and venture capital firms Lux Capital and Thrive Capital, The New York Times reported Monday. Thrive Capital confirmed to Business Insider the company’s participation in the financing increase.

The funding round gives Physical Intelligence a pre-money valuation of $2 billion.

Many startups are developing robots that can perform one specific task, such as dispensing ingredients in a restaurant.

Physical Intelligence says it wants robots using its software to be able to perform a range of tasks — “a true generalist,” as Karol Hausman, the startup’s CEO, co-founder and former robotics scientist at Google, told the Times.

The startup created a general purpose robot foundation modelcalled pi-zero, using data collected by eight different robots. Using the model, each robot performed a different task. Physical Intelligence also used open source data to create its software.

“Our goal in selecting these tasks is not to solve a specific application, but to give our model a general understanding of physical interactions – an initial foundation for physical intelligence,” the company said in its October post.

The result is a robot that can move between lanes. The startup says its mission is to “develop foundational models that can control any robot to perform any task.”

A video posted by Physical Intelligence on X, formerly known as Twitter, shows a robot removing laundry from a dryer before folding it on a table. Another video shows a robot using pi-zero to separate waste from plates, cups and cutlery as it clears the table after a meal.

To clear the table, the robot first had to learn several smaller actions, the company said. “Instead of simply grabbing each item in turn, the model can stack multiple plates on top of each other and place them in the bin together, or shake waste from a plate into the bin before placing the plate in the bus bin,” said Physical Intelligence in a message. .

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The robot can also fold a cardboard box and place eggs in a carton, according to videos posted on the company’s website.

Physical Intelligence says her work is not perfect. The startup’s post also includes videos of robots using pi-zero and failing to complete the task assigned to them. The company also said that “generalist robot policy is still in its infancy and we still have a long way to go.”

“Our experiments to date show that such models can control a variety of robots and perform tasks that no previous robot learning system has successfully performed, such as folding laundry from a basket or assembling a cardboard box,” the company’s message said.

Physical Intelligence, a representative of Bezos, and the other venture capital firms reportedly in the funding round did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

The startup’s funding increase comes as major technology players invest in robotics. Elon Musk’s Tesla has developed a humanoid robot for use in both factories and at home. Meta recently announced that it is researching tactile perception in robotic hands, with Mark Zuckerberg calling the work “an important step towards AGI”. OpenAI and Microsoft have invested in humanoid robot startup Figure AI.

Amazon also partners with Agility Robotics for warehouse robots, including the bipedal robot Digit.