Huge if true.
Rumor is that Anthropic is in talks to acquire Physical Intelligence.
While Google DeepMind has been actively developing Gemini Robotics and OpenAI has been quietly building a dedicated robotics team for over a year, Anthropic has shown almost no public signs of entering the physical intelligence arena.
If confirmed, this acquisition would give Anthropic an immediate and powerful entry into the robotics and embodied AI space.
Physical Intelligence is widely regarded as one of the most promising startups in embodied AI, known for its strong focus on scalable, general-purpose robotic intelligence and high-caliber research team.
🚨 BREAKING:
@WaldenRobotics has just come out of stealth with $300 million in funding and a $1.1 billion valuation.
Another unicorn in the robotics space. 🦄
Just 6 months after incubation.
The company was spun out of Toyota's robotics research lab by co-founder @RussTedrake, a former Toyota Research Institute executive and MIT professor who taught a course on robotic legs.
The seed round was co-led by Deviation Capital and Toyota, with participation from: NVIDIA, Boeing, Samsung Ventures, CoreWeave Ventures and AE Ventures.
The robot is already working.
A pilot is live at a North American Toyota factory where a Walden humanoid is pulling eight-hour shifts alongside human workers, loading and unloading car parts, cleaning machinery, kitting for assembly.
A shift. Every day.
Walden builds its own hardware, software and AI models, designed to continuously learn and improve in real production environments.
Tedrake's words on the opportunity are worth noting:
"Everyone recognises the magnitude of the opportunity and the technology feels ready, but success is not assured.
You have to think through the business case, the unit economics, and how to marry the best of manufacturing and logistics with disruptive AI technology."
Rare honesty in a space full of hype.
The race to own that market is accelerating every single week. 🤖
Great story by Bloomberg here: https://t.co/JkXXX3Xi4u
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