Jerry Pratt, former CTO of Figure, has partnered with Nic Radford, former president and CEO of Nauticus Robotics, Inc., to found Persona AI, a new humanoid robotics firm in early development. Despite a saturated market, Persona aims to attract investors and 10 to 20 founder-level employees with a vision strongly resting on current AI breakthroughs in perception algorithms, onboard electronics, and machine learning. The startup distinguishes itself by choosing headquarters in Houston and Pensacola rather than traditional robotics hubs.
Japan Railway's new humanoid robot employee is being put to use for maintenance work on the company's rail network. The 12-meter-high robot can carry objects as heavy as 40kg, hold a brush to paint, and use a chainsaw. Its current primary tasks are to trim tree branches along rails and paint the metal frames that hold cables above trains. The technology is aimed at filling worker shortages in the aging country as well as reducing worker accidents.