Figure 01
Figure 01 was Figure AI's first humanoid, shown walking in October 2023 and demonstrated with OpenAI's vision-language model in March 2024. It was 168 cm tall, 60 kg, with a 20 kg payload and five-hour runtime. It established the company and led to the BMW agreement in January 2024.
We have not sat down with this one. The score below is computed from the data we hold, and the facts on this page are sourced. It is not on sale, so there is nothing to recommend.
How the score is built
Capability is what the machine physically does. Value compares it with others at a similar price, not with the whole market. Buyability asks whether you can really order one. Ecosystem is the software and community around it. Proof is what it has done in the field, which is where most humanoids score badly and should.
What people buy instead.
- Status
- Retired
- Category
- general purpose
- First revealed
- October 2023
- Form
- bipedal
- Height
- 168 cm
- Weight
- 60 kg
- Payload
- 20 kg
- Degrees of freedom
- n/a
- Battery
- 2.25 kWh
- Runtime
- 5 h
- Walking speed
- 1.2 m/s
- Actuation
- electric
- Units deployed (est.)
- not disclosed
- Teleoperation
- no
Where it stands
First Figure prototype; replaced by Figure 02 in August 2024.
What stands out
- First walking video October 2023
- OpenAI conversational demo, 13 March 2024
- BMW agreement signed January 2024
Autonomy, observed
March 2024 video with OpenAI showing conversation and object handling; BMW pilot at Spartanburg started in 2024.
Figure stated the March 2024 OpenAI demo was fully autonomous and at 1.0x speed.
Hands, sensors, brain
- AI stack: OpenAI multimodal model for speech and reasoning in the March 2024 demo; Figure neural networks for control
Price and volume
no public price
Milestones.
Figure 01 talks and hands over an apple in an OpenAI powered demo
A video shows Figure 01 describing what it sees, handing an apple to a person and putting away dishes while explaining itself, using an OpenAI vision language model and Figure's neural network policies. The clip becomes the reference demo for language driven humanoids.
Figure raises 675 million dollars at a 2.6 billion valuation
Microsoft, OpenAI Startup Fund, Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, Intel Capital and others back the Series B, and Figure announces a collaboration with OpenAI to develop AI models for its robots. It is the largest humanoid round to date.
Figure signs BMW as its first commercial customer
Figure and BMW Manufacturing agree to deploy humanoids at the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina. It is the first announced automotive customer for a general purpose humanoid startup.
Figure raises a 70 million dollar Series A
Figure closes a Series A led by Parkway Venture Capital, the first large venture round of the new humanoid wave. Later 2023 investors include Intel Capital.
Figure AI comes out of stealth with Figure 01
Figure reveals its existence and its first prototype, Figure 01, and states the goal of a commercially viable general purpose humanoid. Within a year it raises hundreds of millions and signs BMW.
Figure AI is founded
Brett Adcock, founder of Vettery and Archer Aviation, founds Figure AI in Sunnyvale, California to build a general purpose humanoid. The company comes out of stealth in March 2023.
Figure AI: what $39 billion has shown so far
Four rounds, $1,754,000,000 raised, one named customer, no price and no unit count. The record on the most valuable humanoid company, generation by generation.
How long does a humanoid robot actually run
22 of 182 humanoids on record quote a runtime. The claims run from 1 to 8 hours with a median of 4, and of the 44 machines you can order, 4 say anything at all.
Startups, automakers, universities: who builds humanoids
108 makers, nine kinds. Startups hold 37 of the 44 humanoids you can order. Automakers, universities, big tech, conglomerates and NASA hold 45 robots between them and sell none of them.
Other robots by Figure AI.
Figure 02
Figure 02, unveiled on 6 August 2024, added onboard speech, six cameras, 16 DoF hands and three times the compute of Figure 01. It became the first Figure robot to work in a customer plant, at BMW Spartanburg, and the platform for the Helix vision-language-action model. Figure retired it in favour of Figure 03 in late 2025.
Figure 03
Figure 03 is Figure AI's third-generation humanoid, unveiled on 9 October 2025 and designed for the home and for volume manufacturing at Figure's BotQ facility. It has soft textile coverings, wireless charging, palm cameras and tactile fingertips, and runs the Helix model onboard. It is the company's first robot designed for mass production rather than hand assembly.
Sources
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