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

• 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 pre-money valuation late last year. The remainder came in more recently at the $2 billion post-money mark.

• Participants include Bezos Expeditions, Canaan Partners, Emerson Collective, Intel Capital, Khosla Ventures, NVentures, Prysm, and Temasek.