Initial details about Figure’s next advanced AI robot are in.
FigureAI founder Brett Adcock gave Herbert Ong, host of the Brighter with Herbert podcast, a private preview of the Figure 03 robot. The host said he can’t reveal details publicly, but Adcock revealed some tidbits during their hourlong discussion.
“Figure 03 is impressive. I know I’m not allowed to talk about it so I’ll restrain on that,” Ong told Adcock. “But it is a huge leap.”
Adcock said the Figure 03 will be the startup’s first production-level robot.
“I think we’re hitting an inflection point now. The robots are working very well,” he said. “We need to learn how to do production at a high rate. We need to learn how to get costs down substantially, and we need to learn how to run thousands of robots.”
Plans call for production at scale starting in 2025, with the goal of eventual mass production and deployment. The third iteration is designed for high-rate manufacturing and large-scale use in industrial settings. Adcock said the Figure 01 and Figure 02 cannot be mass produced the way they’re designed.
Figure is seen as perhaps the top competitor to Tesla as both companies race to mass produce their humanoid robots.
Elon Musk recently said the Tesla Optimus humanoid robot will likely need three major iterations to reach a highly refined version. The EV automaker plans to manufacture a limited number of Tesla Bots for internal use in factories in 2025 with wider availability slated for 2026.
Tesla has an edge in going to market because of its experience in large-scale manufacturing and its inhouse AI. Musk expects the robot to reach a production scale of 1 million units annually within five to six years.
The OpenAI-backed Figure announced its first AI robot in March 2023. The second iteration was unveiled in August 2024. Figure calls the Figure 02 the most advanced and first commercially viable autonomous humanoid robot on the planet.
During another recent interview, Adcock told futurist Peter Diamandis the robot will be available for home use after it gains footing in manufacturing. Adcock believes the robot could eventually cost about $20,000, which is the same price point Tesla is targeting.
The Figure 02 has triple the computing power of its predecessor. Standing about 1.7 meters tall, the robot has six cameras to see and understand its surroundings. It communicates with people using built-in microphones and speakers.
Its human-like hands can carry up to 50 pounds. Its foot design is more human-like than the Figure 1, suitable for a sneaker fitting. Its battery runs for about 5 hours, a 50 percent improvement.
FigureAI accelerated the robot’s development using Isaac Sim, a reference application built on NVIDIA’s Omniverse platform. The synthetic data was used to design, train, and test the robot. According to NVIDIA, a second RTX GPU onboard makes the robot three times faster at performing AI tasks compared to the original model.
The Figure 02 recently completed a successful round of testing at the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. During its trial, the robot inserted sheet metal parts, which requires considerable dexterity that couldn’t previously be achieved with robots.
The robot will be back to work at the plant permanently starting in January 2025. The founder told Tech Crunch the robots worked nearly 24 hours, 7 days a week during the pilot.
Figure plans to expand to a nearby facility as it scales production.