A revolutionary breakthrough in technology has been achieved with the successful deployment of a humanoid robot in a professional environment, surpassing even the much-anticipated Tesla robot created by Elon Musk. 1X, a robotics company backed by OpenAI, have created EPS – a robot with human-like arms capable of performing nursing and bartending tasks – which is now operational in the United States and select parts of Europe.
The 1X robot, called EVE, has been active since April, and has currently been deployed as security guards in two industrial locations. Its distinguishing features are its head, face, and two moving robotic arms – allowing it to open doors, pick up objects, and navigate its surroundings. Security personnel can also virtually enter and control the robot’s body in times of crisis.
1X company founder and CEO, Bernt Bornich, is confident about their robot, stating that it serves a practical purpose in society and is not a gimmick like other robots. He also points out the advantages their robots have when it comes to addressing the labour shortage – they can train and improve without human intervention, and can provide an affordable alternative with a short setup time.
In the United States alone over one million are employed as security guards and it is Bernt’s vision to address this problem with a fleet of robots similar to EVE. The investment round led by OpenAI’s Startup Fund on 1X robots has provided the company with early access to OpenAI technology to work on their language models, enabling the robot to interpret and carry out commands in real-world scenarios.
Furthermore, the company is now working on their own bipedal version called NEO, a two-legged robot capable of walking like a human with their own advanced motor technologies, tendons, drive trains resembling muscles, sensor software, and AI. Bernt Bornich’s hope for the future is a society where labour scarcity is no longer an issue, and sustainable energy generation can be transformed into any desired product or services.
1X is a robotics company founded in 2015 and based in Moss, Norway and Dallas, US, and currently manufactures 10 EVE robots each month. Bernt Bornich is the current CEO and founder of 1X. He has a clear grand vision on how to solve the labour scarcity problem and expresses his belief that this vision can be realized within the next five years, or at least in this decade.
