The Laundry-Folding Robot Obsession Explained: Figure at $39B, Weave Shipping at $7,999, and 150 New Chinese Humanoid Companies in One Year
A 238-upvote r/artificial post — the subreddit's only substantive item of the day after two prior zero-post days — surfaces why laundry has become the industry's benchmark task. The valuations are the story: Figure raised at $39B, 1X is eyeing $10B, Field AI at $2B, Skild AI at $1.4B Series C, General Intuition at $133.7M seed, and Yann LeCun's new venture reportedly seeking $5B+. Weave Robotics' Isaac 1 actually ships at $7,999 upfront or $449/month, though reporting notes it still needs human help to fold. Roughly 150 new humanoid companies appeared in China during 2025 alone, most building near-identical hardware with no revenue path — the valuations price a future where AI replaces payroll across ~450 million manufacturing jobs.
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