A 5'6″ 154 pound worker walks around BMW's Spartanburg, South Carolina production plant. He puts the car parts in the right place and corrects the mistakes himself. He can also speak and respond to colleagues.
However, the worker isn't a human being – it's a shiny new human-like robot called Figure 02.
Two-legged car was released on Tuesday from Figure AI, a $2.6 billion robotics startup backed by big names in robotics and AI such as Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI.
Figure AI claims that Figure 02 is the most advanced humanoid robot currently on the market. The startup designed the robot with the advantages of the human form in mind, giving the machine human-scale hands with human-like strength. The robot can pick up objects as heavy as 55 pounds, coordinate both hands, and place parts in place with millimeter accuracy.
Figure 02 also walks on two legs, speaks with enhanced voice communication and has six-sensor AI-guided vision.
“Figure 02 has significant technical advances that enable the robot to perform a wide range of complex tasks fully autonomously,” said Brett Adcock, founder and CEO of Figure AI, in a statement. Press release.
When BMW tested the robot at its factory in Spartanburg, the automaker found that the Figure 02 could place pieces of sheet metal where they needed to be. Based on early test results, Figure AI and BMW are working together to find new applications for the robot in car manufacturing.
Different from Robot Figure 01 that came forward, Figure 02 looks smoother, with less visible wires. It can handle more by hand, up to 55 pounds compared to Figure 01's 44 pounds, and has 50% more run time, for a total of 5 hours on a single charge.
Although Figure AI specified that Figure 02 was ideal for difficult and precarious physical tasks, one look at this human-like robot might raise fears that humans would be replaced in a variety of jobs.
Recent news may also add to concerns: In April, Amazon cut its workforce by over 100,000 people simultaneously bringing over 750,000 bots. of Amazon The $1 billion innovation fund is also focused on funding startups that combine AI with robotics.
Figure 02 in action. Credit: Figure AI
However, a 2022 study BY Robotic security backed by Amazon startup Veo Robotics found that over half of global manufacturers (57%) think robots will assist, not replace, human work. Figure AI The main plan also focuses on robots that support human work and fill labor shortages rather than replacing humans altogether.
“Our vision at Figure is to bring humanoid robots to commercial operations as quickly as possible,” Adcock said in February.
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