Alright, folks — strap in, because the humanoid robot race is officially heating up. Two of the biggest names in the bipedal bot space, Figure and 1X, are both pushing hard to scale up how many humanoid robots they're actually building. Not just demoing. Not just teasing on social media. Actually manufacturing these things at real volume.
So who are these players? Figure is a California-based startup that's been making serious waves with its sleek, human-shaped robot — the kind that looks like it wandered off a sci-fi film set. And 1X, a Norwegian company backed by some heavy-hitting investors, has been developing its own humanoid called Neo, designed to work alongside people in everyday environments. Both companies seem to have decided that 2024 and beyond is the moment to stop tinkering and start cranking out units.
Here's why this matters, and why it should absolutely be on your radar: for years, humanoid robots lived mostly in the world of flashy YouTube videos and carefully choreographed demos. The gap between 'look what it can do in the lab' and 'here it is doing a real job in the real world' has been enormous. Scaling production is the first serious step toward closing that gap.
Think about it like the early days of electric vehicles — there was a long stretch where EVs were impressive but rare. The moment manufacturers figured out how to build them efficiently and in volume, everything changed. We could be watching the same inflection point happen right now with humanoid robots.
Of course, questions remain — lots of them. How reliable are these robots outside controlled settings? What does the price tag look like? And frankly, are we ready as a society to figure out where these things fit into our workplaces and homes? Those are conversations we are absolutely going to keep having here on the show. But one thing is clear: the humanoid robot era isn't some distant future anymore. It's being assembled on a factory floor right now.