DP

Figure's first autonomous humanoid robot fleet is now 400% faster at work. The robotics startup just revealed updates on its Figure 02 humanoids working in a BMW factory. The fleet can now perform: > 1000s of cycles per day autonomously > With 7x increased reliability > And 4x increased speed The new videos (in thread) show F.02, lifting, moving and carefully placing electric vehicle battery cell parts onto a chassis framework. Another interesting point is that unlike most robot startups, Figure is targeting consumers too, not just businesses. They plan to ship millions of robots to commercial customers for their homes. Brett (founder of Figure) has been prolific fundraiser, last raising a $675 million Series B in February. Figure’s investors include OpenAI, Microsoft, Nvidia and Amazon. OpenAI also recently hired Caitlin Kalinowski, Meta’s head of augmented reality glasses, to head its robotics and consumer division, where she will likely work close with Figure. A number of questions remain to be answered by both companies including: - Whether Figure can scale up manufacturing to match Tesla Optimus - Whether OpenAI’s preference for cloud vs edge AI limits what companies like Figure can do But for now, somewhere in the non unionized South, a group of medium sized robots, builds. Impressive progress!