FieldAI Secures $405M Funding to Revolutionize Robot Intelligence with Physics-Based AI Models

FieldAI raises $405M to build universal robot brains | TechCrunch

FieldAI, an Irvine, California-based, has raised $405 million across multiple previously undisclosed rounds to develop what it calls "foundational embodied AI models" -- essentially robot brains designed to help everything from humanoids to quadrupeds to self-driving cars adapt to new environments. The company announced the funding Wednesday; the most recent round raised $314 million in August and was co-led by Bezos Expedition, Prysm and Temasek. FieldAI's other backers include Khosla Ventures, Intel Capital, and Canaan Partners, among others. Unlike traditional AI that processes text or images, embodied AI refers to AI that controls physical robots moving through real-world environments. FieldAI builds "Field Foundation Models" which are general-purpose embodied AI models rooted in physics. This approach gives robots the ability to quickly learn and adapt to new environments while being conscious of risk, FieldAI founder and CEO Ali Agha told TechCrunch in an interview. "The mission is to build a single robot brain that can generalize across different robot types and a diverse set of environments," Agha said. "To get there, you need to manage risk and safety as you go to these new environments. And that has been a fundamental gap in robotics, that traditional models and traditional approaches were never designed to manage that risk and safety." Agha said the key to getting robots to be able to safely learn in new environments is to add a layer of physics into these AI models. This addition gives robots a second set of information to pull from to make decisions -- especially in a new environment -- as opposed to just reacting to whatever a model says to do next as traditional LLMs do. He added that while a small amount of AI hallucination isn't detrimental in certain circumstances, it can be for robots working in dangerous environments or alongside people. "Suddenly you start to have that sense of, how much I know, and if I don't know something, or if I'm making a decision, how confident I am in it," Agha said. "Once [the] network starts getting access to that, it starts making much safer decisions. Not just this spits out that, 'Hey, here's the next sort of an action,' but it tells you how confident it is, and you as a customer can define this risk threshold, and robot will be reactive to that." Agha has been working on this idea for decades across various roles at places ranging from NASA to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He decided to launch FieldAI when he achieved a technological breakthrough that allowed one robot brain to work across different types of robots performing both the same and individual actions. Since launching the company in 2023, FieldAI has secured contracts across industries including construction, energy, and urban delivery. The company declined to disclose any customers by name. The funding will support research and development while helping the company ramp up production to deploy its models to its customers and to further expand its reach abroad. Agha compares FieldAI's approach to human evolution. "You evolve to be able to do various different tasks in different environments, and you have the ability to rapidly learn, [and] we believe that is a necessity in robotics. Yes, definitely you can optimize for one specific use case, but that is not the market we are going after."

Robotics startup FieldAI raises $314 million in new funding, sources say

Aug 20 (Reuters) - FieldAI, which develops systems for robots to operate safely in industrial environments, has raised $314 million in a new funding round, quadrupling its valuation, sources with knowledge of the matter said. The Irvine, California-based startup is now valued at $2 billion, up from $500 million in a round last year, they added. FieldAI said it has raised $405 million over two funding rounds to scale its artificial intelligence platform but did not break out its latest financing. It added that backers include Khosla Ventures, Nvidia's NVentures, Bezos Expeditions, Canaan Partners and Intel Capital. The startup, founded in 2023, has gained attention as it focuses on software that can be installed on a wide range of hardware, allowing it and its clients to use the most cost-effective robots which accelerates deployment. That contrasts with vertically integrated companies that build their hardware and software, such as Figure AI. FieldAI's current focus is on enabling robots to perform monitoring and surveying tasks in "dirty, dull, dangerous" environments, with a long-term goal of expanding into more complex, action-based capabilities. CEO Ali Agha, a former robotics technologist at NASA, said in an interview that the financing will help the company expand its team from about 30 people at the end of 2024 to nearly 100 to support multi-million-dollar contracts in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He added that FieldAI's technology differentiates itself from other AI models because it integrates physics principles to manage risk in a changing environment, allowing robots to operate more safely without needing pre-mapped environments. "In robotics, there are consequences to actions, so managing that risk is the fundamental gap today," Agha said. Kanu Gulati, a partner at Khosla Ventures, said FieldAI was attractive because one of the robotics industry's main bottlenecks to further development was the lack of real world data. "The bigger story for me is getting more robots deployed that are collecting more data, and then they can be in the pole position to win," she said. Global funding in robotics surged to $18.6 billion in 2024, a 116% increase from the previous year, according to a report by F-Prime Capital. Reporting by Krystal Hu in Toronto; Editing by Edwina Gibbs Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Artificial Intelligence Krystal Hu Thomson Reuters Krystal reports on venture capital and startups for Reuters. She covers Silicon Valley and beyond through the lens of money and characters, with a focus on growth-stage startups, tech investments and AI. She has previously covered M&A for Reuters, breaking stories on Trump's SPAC and Elon Musk's Twitter financing. Previously, she reported on Amazon for Yahoo Finance, and her investigation of the company's retail practice was cited by lawmakers in Congress. Krystal started a career in journalism by writing about tech and politics in China. She has a master's degree from New York University, and enjoys a scoop of Matcha ice cream as much as getting a scoop at work.

Robotics startup FieldAI, backed by Gates and Bezos, hits $2B valuation after latest funding

FieldAI, a robotics startup backed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and others, raised $405 million in recent funding rounds as the California-based company aims to deploy its "software brain" in a variety of robots across diverse environments. The investment, which came in consecutive Series A and A1 rounds, values the 2-year-old startup at $2 billion according to reports by Axios and CNBC on Wednesday. Gates Frontier, an investment arm of the Microsoft co-founder, previously backed FieldAI. Bezos Expeditions, the investment office for the Amazon founder, joined the latest oversubscribed round along with NVentures (NVIDIA's venture capital arm), BHP Ventures, Canaan Partners, Emerson Collective, Intel Capital, Khosla Ventures, Prysm, Temasek, and others. FieldAI builds the intelligence that powers humanoid robots and other embodiments, including quadrupeds, wheeled robots and passenger-scale vehicles. The company says its platform -- called Field Foundation Models -- differs from conventional vision or language models retrofitted for robotics. FFMs are designed to grapple with uncertainty, risk, and the physical constraints of the real world and safely navigate and work in dynamic, unstructured environments without prior maps, GPS, or predefined paths. FieldAI attaches its system to third-party robot hardware, and they can work autonomously across industries including construction, energy, manufacturing, urban delivery and inspection. The acceleration of robotics is evident at companies like Amazon, where the tech giant has deployed more than 1 million robots across its fulfillment network, with the goal of making warehouse work safer and more efficient. Amazon has invested in Salem, Ore.-based Agility Robotics through its Industrial Innovation Fund, a billion-dollar venture capital fund that backs different forms of supply chain technology. Agility -- known for its Digit bipedal humanoid warehouse robot, was raising $400 million in new funding earlier this year, according to reports. Last year, Amazon hired three of the founders from Covariant, a Bay Area startup that develops AI for advanced warehouse robotics systems. Bezos Expeditions previously joined a $400 million funding round for Physical Intelligence, a robot startup in San Francisco that is also backed by OpenAI. FieldAI is led by veterans in robotic AI from DeepMind, Google Brain, Tesla Autopilot, NASA JPL, SpaceX, Zoox, Cruise, Amazon, DARPA, TRI, and others. "With a deep understanding of the resilience and robustness required to deploy robotic AI in complex real-world conditions, we have taken a fundamentally different approach," founder and CEO Ali Agha said in a statement. "Rather than attempting to shoehorn large language and vision models into robotics -- only to address their hallucinations and limitations as an afterthought -- we have designed intrinsically risk-aware architectures from the ground up."

FieldAI raises over $400 million to make robot "brains"

Why it matters: This is AI that could enable future AI, by helping to build data centers. * Field AI is developing what it calls field foundation models, trained on the physical world, rather than retrofitting large language models to robots. * It then applies these FFMs to third-party robots, regardless of form, with a focus on applications in "dirty, dull, or dangerous" industries like construction, energy, and logistics. FieldAI CEO Ali Agha tells Axios: "All we need from the robot manufacturer is that the robot can be joysticked by a person. If you have that, we can replace the person by installing our box on the robot. For example, if it's a humanoid robot, then it looks like a backpack. If it's a quadruped, then it's on its back." Zoom in: The initial $91 million was raised at a $400 million post-money valuation late last year. The remainder came in more recently at the $2 billion mark.

Robotics software startup FieldAI raises $405M in funding - SiliconANGLE

FieldAI Inc., a developer of artificial intelligence software for robots, today disclosed that it has raised $405 million in funding over two rounds. The bulk of the capital came in the form of a $315 million investment led by Bezos Expedition, Prysm and Temasek that closed earlier this month. FieldAI also counts the venture capital arms of Nvidia Corp. and Intel Corp. among its backers. The company is now reportedly worth $2 billion, up from $500 million last year. FieldAI offers a software platform that enables robots to navigate challenging environments such as construction sites. The software is powered by AI models that the company refers to field foundation models, or FFMs for short. FieldAI says that the algorithms are more suitable for use in robots than standard neural networks. Historically, companies had to use different autonomy software for each type of robot used in an automation project. FieldAI says that its FFMs reduce the need for such customization. The company's software can run on humanoid robots, autonomous vehicles and a range of other systems out of the box. FieldAI trains its FFMs using data collected from the customer sites where its software is deployed. The company also uses synthetic data, or files generated by software for AI training purposes. FieldAI generates synthetic data using thousands of robot simulations powered by Nvidia's open-source Isaac Lab tool. Customers can deploy multiple FieldAI-powered robots in the same facility and configure them to coordinate their work. According to TechCrunch, the company's software reduces the risk of navigation errors by estimating "how confident it is" in a given decision. Customers can prevent the robot from making decisions if the risk of errors exceeds a certain threshold. Before deploying a robot in a new location, developers must usually provide the system with a map of that location. The process of creating a map can take weeks, which increases the cost of automation initiatives. Moreover, maps often aren't available for fast-changing environments such as construction sites. FieldAI says its FFMs can manage without maps, GPS access or user-defined robot travel paths. That reduces the amount of effort involved in deploying robots powered by the company's software. The company disclosed today that customers have deployed its platforms in hundreds of industrial environments. Real-estate companies can use FieldAI-powered robots to monitor construction sites for blueprint adherence. A factory operator, meanwhile, could deploy robots in its plants to inspect production equipment. "Rather than attempting to shoehorn large language and vision models into robotics -- only to address their hallucinations and limitations as an afterthought -- we have designed intrinsically risk-aware architectures from the ground up," said founder and Chief Executive Officer Ali Agha. The company will use the proceeds from its two funding rounds to double its headcount by year's end. The new hires will help speed up its engineering efforts and grow its international presence.

Robotics startup FieldAI raises $314 million in new funding, sources say - The Economic Times

FieldAI, which develops systems for robots to operate safely in industrial environments, has raised $314 million in a new funding round, quadrupling its valuation, sources with knowledge of the matter said. The Irvine, California-based startup is now valued at $2 billion, up from $500 million in a round last year, they added. FieldAI said it has raised $405 million over two funding rounds to scale its artificial intelligence platform but did not break out its latest financing. It added that backers include Khosla Ventures, Nvidia's NVentures, Bezos Expeditions, Canaan Partners and Intel Capital. The startup, founded in 2023, has gained attention as it focuses on software that can be installed on a wide range of hardware, allowing it and its clients to use the most cost-effective robots which accelerates deployment. That contrasts with vertically integrated companies that build their hardware and software, such as Figure AI. FieldAI's current focus is on enabling robots to perform monitoring and surveying tasks in "dirty, dull, dangerous" environments, with a long-term goal of expanding into more complex, action-based capabilities. CEO Ali Agha, a former robotics technologist at NASA, said in an interview that the financing will help the company expand its team from about 30 people at the end of 2024 to nearly 100 to support multi-million-dollar contracts in the US, Europe and Asia. He added that FieldAI's technology differentiates itself from other AI models because it integrates physics principles to manage risk in a changing environment, allowing robots to operate more safely without needing pre-mapped environments. "In robotics, there are consequences to actions, so managing that risk is the fundamental gap today," Agha said. Kanu Gulati, a partner at Khosla Ventures, said FieldAI was attractive because one of the robotics industry's main bottlenecks to further development was the lack of real world data. "The bigger story for me is getting more robots deployed that are collecting more data, and then they can be in the pole position to win," she said. Global funding in robotics surged to $18.6 billion in 2024, a 116% increase from the previous year, according to a report by F-Prime Capital.

FieldAI Raises $405 Million for Robotic AI and General-Purpose Robots | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The latest round was oversubscribed as the company gains new and expanded contracts for its general-purpose robotics intelligence, FieldAI said in a Wednesday press release. FieldAI is developing a single software brain that can power a variety of robots, and its robots are currently operating on a day-to-day basis in construction, energy, manufacturing, urban delivery and inspection with companies in Japan, Europe and the United States, according to the release. The company plans to use the new capital to accelerate its global growth, support its product development and double its headcount by the end of the year, per the release. "With a deep understanding of the resilience and robustness required to deploy robotic AI in complex real-world conditions, we have taken a fundamentally different approach," FieldAI founder and CEO Ali Agha said in the release. "Rather than attempting to shoehorn large language and vision models into robotics -- only to address their hallucinations and limitations as an afterthought -- we have designed intrinsically risk-aware architectures from the ground up." FieldAI's investors include Bezos Expeditions, BHP Ventures, Canaan Partners, Emerson Collective, Intel Capital, Khosla Ventures, Nvidia's venture capital arm NVentures, Prysm and Temasek, according to the release. Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, said in the release: "FieldAI is at the forefront of the general-purpose robotics revolution, and its ability to rapidly deploy will unlock long-term economic and societal value." There is a crowded market for robotics AI, including big competitors like Meta, Google-funded Apptronik and Tesla, PYMNTS reported in February. Robotics startup Skild AI said July 29 that it introduced an AI model that can run on almost any robot -- from humanoids to table-top arms -- and let them think, function and respond more like humans. On July 15, XTEND secured a $30 million extension to its $70 million Series B funding round to expand the production and deployment of its AI-powered tactical autonomous drones and robots that are used by the U.S. and allied defense forces and that are intended for additional use in security, humanitarian and emergency response efforts.