Figure

After a year of development, Figure has released video footage of its humanoid robot walking – and it's looking pretty sprightly compared to its commercial competition. It's our first look at a prototype that should be doing useful work within months.

Brett Adcock has co-founded two companies on the bleeding edges of innovation in emerging markets: Archer Aviation, in the world of eVTOL aircraft, and Figure, in humanoid robots. We look into his background, and the startup that launched it all.

Humanoid robot laborers will soon hit the workforce, powered by AI and designed eventually to take over any task a human worker can do. Figure's Brett Adcock is one of the people driving this seismic shift, so we asked him what the future holds.

In 10 years, Brett Adcock has gone from founding an online talent marketplace, to selling it for nine figures, to founding the third-ranked eVTOL aircraft company, to going after one of tech's greatest challenges: general-purpose humanoid robots.

Humanoid robots built around cutting-edge AI brains promise shocking, disruptive change to labor markets and the wider global economy – and near-unlimited investor returns to whoever gets them right at scale. Big money is now flowing into the sector.