DEPLOYDatabase

Company

Figure AI

humanoidfigure.ai

Sunnyvale-based humanoid-robotics company founded in 2022, among the fastest-moving US humanoid developers from prototype to production partnership.

Track Figure AI
Founded
2022
HQ
Sunnyvale, California, USA
Status
Private

CategoryHumanoids

Funding

$1.7B

Models

3

Deployments

5

Employees

600

Patents

15

Overview

Sunnyvale-based humanoid-robotics company founded in 2022, among the fastest-moving US humanoid developers from prototype to production partnership. Its industrial humanoid Figure 02 ran a flagship production deployment at BMW's Spartanburg plant (since ended); the next-generation Figure 03 (with notably dexterous hands, 16 DoF per hand) is its current platform, increasingly oriented toward both industrial RaaS and eventual home use. Figure develops its own Helix vision-language-action AI and operates BotQ, a manufacturing facility tooled to produce up to ~12,000 Figure robots per year.

Financials: Figure raised over $1 billion in a Series C (September 2025) at a $39 billion valuation, a roughly 15x jump from its $2.6 billion valuation in February 2024, bringing total funding raised to roughly $1.7 billion. Investors include NVIDIA and Qualcomm Ventures.

Reality check: Figure's elevated valuation is partly home-market optionality; CEO Brett Adcock has acknowledged home autonomy is not yet ready for unsupervised operation, so near-term revenue is industrial robots-as-a-service. The BMW deployment, though small in unit count, represents genuine factory integration rather than lab demos. BotQ's 12,000/yr is production capacity, not current output.

Reality check

Production rate (company-claimed)

55 Figure 03s a week (Jul 2026); the CEO has said one robot per hour, up from one a day.

NVIDIA safety platform (company-claimed)

Sep 2026: Building with NVIDIA's Open Agent Safety Platform (OpenShell and Sentry), one of 100+ partners. Not an exclusive deal.

F.02 decommission (company-claimed)

Sep 2026: Most of the F.02 fleet was melted in a 75-ton arc furnace in Imatra, Finland, to speed F.04; a few are kept and the metal becomes commemorative pieces.

F.03 treadmill endurance run (CEO-claimed, Oct 2026)

Brett Adcock said an F.03 had walked a treadmill for 9 straight days, covering 348 miles and 1.2 million steps, as a stress test to surface failures.

Data capture rate (CEO-claimed, Oct 2026)

Adcock reposted a report that Figure captures 81 minutes of robot data per second and spent an estimated $8.1M on data in one week, saying Figure built a dedicated unit to scale it.

Blackbox test home (CEO-claimed, Oct 2026)

Brett Adcock said Figure built a secret home inside its HQ, called Blackbox, to test its frontier models.

Verified record

Verified deployments
5 deployments on file
Active incidents
1 incident on file

Valuation of record

DEPLOY VERIFIED
$39B (reported, approximate)as of Sep 2025

Priced roundSeries C post-money

See the full valuations ranking →

Key facts

Valuationsee valuations ranking →

$39B at the Series C (Sep 2025), up about 15x from $2.6B in Feb 2024.

Robots

Figure 03 (16 degrees of freedom per hand) is current. Figure 02 ran the BMW Spartanburg production deployment, now ended.

AI stacksee AI stacks →

Helix, an in-house vision-language-action model.

BotQ factory

High-volume humanoid plant opened in 2025 with initial capacity of 12,000 robots a year; Figure 03 production ramp announced Apr 29 2026.

Business model

Industrial robots-as-a-service. Home autonomy is not yet ready for unsupervised use, per the CEO.

Possible NVIDIA investment (reported, Oct 2026)

NVIDIA has discussed investing about $1B more, per The Information. Talks only; neither company confirmed.

Data & sources

Press releases

3

News coverage

5

Patent documents

15

Web sources

20

43 sources backing this record.View all →

Partnerships

Every company Figure AI has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.

16 total12 operating3 just announced3 ended

Most-frequent partners

  1. 1BMW Group4× joint
  2. 2NVIDIA3× joint119 total
  3. 3Catalyst Brands2× joint
  4. 4ARK Invest1× joint1 total
  5. 5Bezos Expeditions1× joint2 total
  6. 6BMW1× joint

Most recent

  1. Figure AI and T-Mobile edge inference for Helix2026-10-27
    with T-Mobileoperating
  2. BMW x Figure AI Center of Competence Physical AI Leipzig2026-07-13
    with BMW Group Plant Leipzigoperating
  3. Figure AI x BMW Group Spartanburg Figure 032026-07-01
    with BMW Groupoperating
  4. Figure AI x BMW Group2026-06-30
    with BMW Groupoperating
  5. BMW Group x Figure AI Spartanburg2026-06-15
    with BMW Groupoperating

Relationships

CCatalyst BrandsDeployerBBMW Group Plant LeipzigCustomerBBMW GroupCustomerCCatalyst BrandsCustomerBBrookfield Asset ManagementInvestorNNVIDIATechnology partnerNNVIDIAInvestorIIntel CorporationInvestorAARK InvestInvestorBBezos ExpeditionsInvestor

Claims ledger

Public, dated claims by Figure AI, each tracked against the evidence. Status is a DEPLOY assessment from primary sources: verified means an independent source confirms it; contradicted means one refutes it; open means the outcome is not yet determinable. Every entry keeps its verbatim quote and source so you can check the call yourself.

Claim Integrity: 0% (0 of 1 resolved claims verified; 6 tracked)
  • OpenCapacity · claimed 2026-07-23
    “BotQ has manufactured our 1,000th humanoid robot for F.03 — congrats to the team! — Brett Adcock, Figure AI founder”
    claim sourcestatus evidencecite this claim
  • ContradictedCustomer · claimed 2026-06-30
    “Figure 03 performing a logistics workflow at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg”

    BMW to Forbes 2026-10-07: non-production test of 2-3 robots, ended; no Figure robots at plant. https://www.forbes.com.au/news/innovation/brett-adcock-net-worth-figure-ai-humanoid-robots/

    claim sourcestatus evidencecite this claim
  • OpenCapability · claimed 2026-03-01 · deadline 2026-12-31
    “Superhuman speed, surgical precision”

    No evidence of "superhuman speed" or "surgical precision" in any Figure deployment. BMW deployment is logistics (moving carts, parts), not precision tasks. This claim is unsupported by any verified deployment evidence.

    claim sourcecite this claim
  • OpenCapability · claimed 2026-03-01 · deadline 2026-12-31
    “Home robots capable of long-horizon tasks in unseen environments by end of 2026”

    No evidence of home deployment or long-horizon autonomous tasks in unseen environments. All verified deployments are in controlled factory environments (BMW). This is the most aggressive humanoid home-robot claim in the industry.

    claim sourcecite this claim
Show 2 more claims
  • OpenTimeline · claimed 2026-02-15 · deadline 2026-12-31
    “By end of the year we'll be able to put a robot into home and be able to do fairly long horizon work”

    Figure 03 is deployed at BMW Spartanburg (factory, not home) as of June 2026. No home deployment announced. The claim is for end of 2026, so it remains open. However, no evidence of home testing exists. https://www.figure.ai/news/f-03-at-bmw

    claim sourcestatus evidencecite this claim
  • OpenCapacity · claimed 2026-02-15 · deadline 2028-12-31
    “The goal is 100,000 humanoids over the next few years”

    Figure has not disclosed current production volume. BMW deployment is "demonstration" phase. 100K target is far from current scale. No manufacturing partner for mass production announced beyond BMW logistics. https://www.figure.ai/

    claim sourcestatus evidencecite this claim

Disagree with a status? Figure AI can submit a correction with evidence and we log the response on the record. Methodology and the full industry ledger live at /stats/claim-integrity.

Explainers

Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about Figure AI, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.

How much will Tesla Optimus cost?
Elon Musk has publicly targeted a $20,000–$30,000 consumer price for Tesla Optimus, but Tesla has not opened orders, published a confirmed retail price, or shipped a single unit to a paying customer as of mid-2026. The $20K–$30K figure is a forward target, not a current price.Read the full explainer →
When can you buy a Tesla Optimus?
As of mid-2026, Tesla Optimus is not available for purchase by consumers or enterprises through any public channel. Elon Musk has stated Tesla expects to be producing Optimus for external sale in the late 2020s, but no order book, reservation system, or fulfillment timeline has been published.Read the full explainer →
Can a Tesla Optimus clean a house, cook, do laundry, or drive a car?
Not at consumer-deployment scale. As of mid-2026, Tesla Optimus has been demonstrated walking, performing battery-cell sorting inside Tesla factories, and folding clothes / handling objects / serving drinks at staged events. Tesla acknowledged some of the most-shared demos involved teleoperation, not autonomous control. Optimus has not cleaned a house, cooked a meal, done a full laundry workflow, or driven a car under unprompted autonomous control in any customer environment. The shipped autonomous capability is narrower than the marketing reel suggests; consumer-deployment task capability is claimed-with-demonstration-evidence, not verified.Read the full explainer →
How fast is Tesla Optimus improving?
Tesla publishes a steady cadence of Optimus improvement claims (generation reveals, factory-learning narrative, capability demonstrations) but verified external-deployment evidence remains thin. Per Tesla disclosure, ~300-500 Optimus units operate in factory-learning phase at Tesla facilities; no verified third-party customer deployments exist. Per DEPLOY's framework, capability-improvement claims sit at consumer-promised tier; trajectory framing attaches editorial accountability that subsequent events will be measured against.Read the full explainer →
What is the battery life of Tesla Optimus?
Tesla has not published an official battery capacity or runtime for Optimus. Publicly visible information and Musk statements suggest a working-day target in the range of a single shift (roughly 4–8 hours of light task work), but no Tesla-confirmed specification exists.Read the full explainer →
How much does a humanoid robot cost in 2026?
Humanoid robot pricing in 2026 spans five availability tiers with different verification states. Research-tools pricing is verified and publicly listed (Unitree G1 at $13,500-$16,000; R1 at $5,900). Consumer-available pricing is verified (1X NEO at $20,000 outright purchase or $499/month subscription, six-month minimum). Enterprise-deployed pricing is not publicly disclosed (Figure 03, Apptronik Apollo, Agility Digit under contract; analyst estimates put the range at $50,000-$250,000). Consumer-promised pricing is a claim (Tesla Optimus at $20,000-$30,000 at-scale target). Engineering-credibility tier hardware costs $200,000+ but is enterprise R&D only (Boston Dynamics Atlas).Read the full explainer →
Show 41 more explainers
Can I buy a humanoid robot in 2026?
Yes, but the answer depends on what you mean by buy. Five tiers of humanoid availability exist in 2026: consumer-available (1X NEO at $20,000 outright or $499/month subscription, six-month minimum); research-tools-pricing (Unitree G1 at $13,500-$16,000 and R1 at $5,900); enterprise-deployed (Figure, Apptronik, Agility under contract); consumer-promised but not shipping (Tesla Optimus); and engineering-credibility with commercial transition pending (Boston Dynamics Atlas). Which fits your need depends on whether you're a consumer, a developer, an enterprise procurement organization, or waiting on Tesla.Read the full explainer →
Which is the cheapest humanoid robot you can buy?
The Unitree R1 is the cheapest walking humanoid robot commercially available in 2026 at $5,900 base (smaller-form mass-market consumer + developer platform launched July 2025). For a full-size bipedal humanoid, the Unitree G1 starts at roughly $13,500 to $16,000 base. Both are made by Unitree Robotics (Hangzhou, China) and represent the most aggressively priced humanoid platforms commercially available; every other publicly-listed humanoid is meaningfully more expensive.Read the full explainer →
What is the best humanoid robot to buy in 2026?
There is no single best humanoid robot in 2026; the right pick depends on which of the five availability tiers matches your use case. For consumer home use, 1X NEO is the only verified-available option ($20,000 outright or $499/month subscription with a six-month minimum; late-2026 US delivery). For research and developer access, the Unitree G1 is the practical choice. For warehouse and factory pilots, Agility Digit, Apptronik Apollo, and Figure 03 are the platforms with documented commercial deployments. For elite R&D, Boston Dynamics Atlas remains the dynamic-motion benchmark. Tesla Optimus remains consumer-promised but not for sale.Read the full explainer →
Who are the leading humanoid robot makers?
By active commercial deployment activity in 2026, the leading humanoid robot makers are Tesla (Optimus, factory pilots), Figure AI (02, BMW pilot), Agility Robotics (Digit, warehouse operators), Apptronik (Apollo, Mercedes-Benz pilot), 1X Technologies (Neo, consumer pre-launch), Boston Dynamics (Atlas, R&D), and Unitree Robotics (G1/H-series, research). A fast-growing Chinese cohort (UBTech, Xiaomi, XPeng, Fourier, EngineAI, and others) is shipping platforms at increasingly competitive price points.Read the full explainer →
What is the typical lifespan of a humanoid robot?
There is no established lifespan benchmark for modern humanoid robots in 2026. The longest-running commercial deployments are under three years old. Component-level data exists: harmonic drives are typically rated for 20,000 to 30,000 hours of industrial duty, lithium battery packs for 1,000 to 3,000 full charge cycles, and brushless DC actuators for several years of regular use. Battery and actuator wear, not advertised lifespan, are the practical limits.Read the full explainer →
Can humanoid robots replace human workers?
Not at labor-market scale in 2026. Verified enterprise deployments operate at pilot scope: Figure 02 at BMW Spartanburg assembled 30,000 vehicles over 11 months; Agility Digit at GXO Flowery Branch handles 100,000 totes per year; Apptronik Apollo runs 3 Fortune-500 pilots; 1X NEO performs consumer household tasks with explicit teleoperation disclosure. These are meaningful capability demonstrations but not workforce-displacement at scale. The framework reads workforce-replacement claims as long-horizon trajectory rather than near-term reality.Read the full explainer →
Is 1X NEO autonomous, or is it controlled by humans?
1X Technologies has explicitly disclosed that NEO relies on remote human teleoperators for complex household tasks during the consumer rollout phase. NEO is a teleop-bridged humanoid, not a fully autonomous one. 1X frames the teleoperation as the deliberate strategic path to consumer scale, not a stop-gap.Read the full explainer →
Is Figure AI a Chinese company?
No. Figure AI is a US company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, founded in 2022 by American entrepreneur Brett Adcock. The confusion likely reflects the substantial Chinese humanoid-manufacturer presence in the broader category (Unitree, AgiBot, UBTech), but Figure AI is American.Read the full explainer →
What is Figure 03?
Figure 03 is the third-generation humanoid robot from Figure AI, a US humanoid manufacturer based in Sunnyvale, California. The robot stands 173 cm (about 5'8"), weighs 61 kg, and is currently in active pilot deployment at a Catalyst Brands distribution logistics center. It is not available for consumer purchase as of mid-2026.Read the full explainer →
What is Apptronik Apollo and how does it compare to other humanoids?
Apptronik Apollo is a bipedal humanoid robot from Apptronik, a US humanoid maker based in Austin, Texas with NASA Valkyrie research heritage. Apollo is deployed in enterprise pilots across three Fortune-500 customers (Mercedes-Benz, GXO Logistics, Jabil) and represents the enterprise-breadth strategy in the humanoid commercial deployment landscape.Read the full explainer →
Is Boston Dynamics Atlas commercially available?
No, not yet. Boston Dynamics' Atlas humanoid is in research-to-commercial transition following the April 2024 reveal of the new electric Atlas platform. The company's quadruped Spot is the commercially-verified product line; Atlas commercial deployment timeline has not been announced. Boston Dynamics is owned by Hyundai Motor Group, which positions Atlas for industrial/enterprise rather than consumer markets.Read the full explainer →
How much do the Unitree G1 and R1 humanoid robots cost?
Unitree's G1 humanoid robot starts at roughly $13,500 to $16,000 for a base research-grade configuration, with more advanced versions running higher. The smaller R1 starts at $5,900 for an entry consumer and developer configuration. Both are made by Unitree Robotics, a Chinese manufacturer based in Hangzhou, and represent the most aggressively priced humanoid platforms commercially available in 2026.Read the full explainer →
What is Mentee Robotics and the MenteeBot humanoid?
Mentee Robotics is an Israeli humanoid robot maker founded in 2022 by Amnon Shashua, the AI researcher who also leads Mobileye and AI21. Mobileye acquired Mentee in January 2026 for approximately $900 million ($612M cash plus Mobileye Class A shares), making Mentee an independent operating unit inside Mobileye. The company's MenteeBot humanoid is positioned as an AI-first general-purpose platform leveraging Mobileye's autonomous-vehicle perception heritage.Read the full explainer →
Tesla Optimus vs Figure 03 vs 1X NEO: which humanoid should I actually buy?
If you want to buy a humanoid robot in 2026, the answer depends on which tier of availability matches your need. 1X NEO is the only consumer-available option ($20,000 outright or $499/month subscription with six-month minimum, late-2026 US delivery). Figure 03 is enterprise-deployed only (Catalyst Brands pilot; no consumer commerce). Tesla Optimus is consumer-promised but not shipping (Musk's $20,000-$30,000 target is a forward claim, no order channel). The three products operate at three structurally distinct tiers.Read the full explainer →
Which humanoid robot makers are American, Chinese, or from other countries?
The major American humanoid makers are Figure AI (Sunnyvale CA), Apptronik (Austin TX), Tesla (Palo Alto CA / Austin TX), Boston Dynamics (Waltham MA; Hyundai-owned), and Agility Robotics (Salem OR). The major Chinese makers are Unitree Robotics (Hangzhou), AgiBot (Shanghai), UBTech (Shenzhen), Fourier Intelligence (Shanghai), XPeng Robotics (Guangzhou), and several others. 1X Technologies operates a Norwegian-American structure (Moss Norway HQ plus Hayward California factory). Mentee Robotics is Israeli (acquired by Mobileye January 2026). Sanctuary AI is Canadian (Vancouver).Read the full explainer →
Why are frontier AI labs (OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta) entering robotics in 2025-2026?
The major frontier AI research labs are committing institutionally to robotics in 2025-2026 as a distinct industry cluster. OpenAI formally relaunched its robotics division in May 2026 after a 4-to-5-year hiatus. Google DeepMind operates the Gemini Robotics program as part of its broader model-to-embodiment research. Meta has expanded AI robotics work alongside its Reality Labs portfolio. The cluster is not about any one lab making a robot; it is about foundation-model research lines extending toward physical-world embodiment.Read the full explainer →
How does teleoperation differ across humanoid robot manufacturers?
Every major humanoid manufacturer uses teleoperation in development and demonstration. The differential across the cohort is the disclosure layer, not the underlying practice. 1X is the most transparent (explicit teleop disclosure on the consumer commerce surface). Tesla operated framing-without-disclosure at We Robot 2024 (autonomy framing; subsequently confirmed teleoperated). Figure deploys with human-in-loop for exception handling at customer facilities. Apptronik has mixed disclosure across enterprise pilots. The framework treats the disclosure differential as the editorial finding.Read the full explainer →
What is Sanctuary AI and the Phoenix humanoid robot?
Sanctuary AI is a Canadian humanoid robotics company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, founded by Geordie Rose and Suzanne Gildert (both Kindred AI alumni). The company's Phoenix platform is a seventh-generation humanoid emphasizing a cognitive architecture that combines symbolic reasoning with neural learning, structurally distinct from the end-to-end foundation-model approach most US humanoid makers pursue. Sanctuary AI is privately held; not publicly traded.Read the full explainer →
What is UBTech Walker S2 and is UBTech a real humanoid company?
UBTech Robotics is a publicly-traded Chinese humanoid manufacturer headquartered in Shenzhen, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Walker S2 is the company's industrial-focused humanoid platform deployed in factory pilots with BYD, Geely, Foxconn, and other manufacturing customers. UBTech is real, with verified commercial pilots; the company distinguishes itself from the US private humanoid cohort by being publicly listed with disclosed financial state.Read the full explainer →
Which humanoid robot manufacturers can I invest in?
Direct equity exposure to humanoid manufacturers in 2026 is mostly limited to a small set of publicly-traded companies: UBTech Robotics (HKEX-listed Chinese maker), Tesla (NASDAQ; Optimus is one product), and Hyundai Motor Group (KRX; Boston Dynamics parent). The major US humanoid pure-plays (Figure AI, 1X Technologies, Apptronik, Agility Robotics, Sanctuary AI) are privately held and accessible only via venture-stage or accredited-investor channels. Mentee Robotics was acquired by Mobileye in January 2026. DEPLOY is not an investment advisor; this guide documents verification posture, not investment advice.Read the full explainer →
Can humanoid robots cook?
No consumer-deployed humanoid robot can cook autonomously in 2026. Demonstrations and research exist across the cohort; consumer-grade cooking capability is not verified at deployment scale. Purpose-built robotic kitchens (such as Moley Robotics, a non-humanoid installed kitchen) exist at the research-and-experimental tier near $300,000. For a general-purpose humanoid robot that can prepare meals autonomously in a customer's kitchen, the answer is years from verified consumer-deployment.Read the full explainer →
Can humanoid robots do laundry?
Yes, with disclosure. 1X NEO is the verified-leader for consumer-deployment laundry capability in 2026: NEO performs laundry tasks (folding, sorting, light loading) in consumer homes with explicit Expert Mode teleoperation disclosure for complex tasks. Other cohort manufacturers (Tesla Optimus, Figure 03, Apptronik Apollo, Boston Dynamics Atlas, Unitree) demonstrate clothes-folding or related manipulation but do not consumer-deploy laundry capability. Laundry is the canonical example of how task capability varies dramatically across the humanoid cohort: 1X delivers verified consumer capability with teleop disclosure; others deliver demonstrations without consumer deployment.Read the full explainer →
What can humanoid robots actually do today?
Humanoid robot capability in 2026 sorts into four verification tiers per DEPLOY's framework. Verified consumer-deployed: 1X NEO performs laundry, organizing, and light manipulation in customer homes with explicit teleop disclosure. Verified enterprise-deployed: Figure 03, Apptronik Apollo, Agility Digit, and UBTech Walker S2 perform manufacturing and logistics tasks at Fortune-500 customer facilities. Research and demonstration: Boston Dynamics Atlas, Tesla Optimus, and Unitree platforms show capability footage but do not deploy. Claimed future: cooking, autonomous home assistance, childcare, and general-purpose household work remain claimed across the cohort but not consumer-deployed.Read the full explainer →
What is Agility Robotics and the Digit humanoid robot?
Agility Robotics is a US humanoid robotics company headquartered in Albany, Oregon, with humanoid R&D heritage tracing through the Cassie research platform that preceded Digit. The Digit humanoid is the company's commercial warehouse and logistics platform, deployed in pilots at GXO Logistics (the 100,000-tote scaled-throughput anchor), Amazon Spanx Tennessee, Schaeffler, and other industrial customers. Agility is privately held, with Amazon as a strategic investor and a manufacturing facility (RoboFab) in Salem, Oregon.Read the full explainer →
What is Fourier Intelligence and the GR-3 humanoid?
Fourier Intelligence is a Chinese humanoid robotics company headquartered in Shanghai with distinctive technical heritage in lower-limb exoskeleton and rehabilitation robotics. The GR-3 is the company's third-generation general-purpose humanoid platform, evolved from the GR-1 and GR-2 predecessors. Fourier occupies a distinctive position in the Chinese humanoid cohort: medical and rehabilitation engineering heritage transitioning to general-purpose humanoid product, with research-platform commercial positioning rather than the factory-deployment focus of UBTech Walker S2 or the research-tools pricing of Unitree G1 and R1.Read the full explainer →
What is PAL Robotics and the TALOS humanoid?
PAL Robotics is a Spanish humanoid robotics company headquartered in Barcelona, founded in 2004 with extensive European research-consortium history. The TALOS is the company's full-size adult bipedal humanoid platform, positioned for research-institution deployment rather than consumer or scaled-enterprise commercial use. PAL extends DEPLOY's humanoid manufacturer cohort to European context, representing a distinct geographic-and-strategic position from the American, Chinese, and Canadian cohort members.Read the full explainer →
What's the difference between a humanoid robot and an industrial robot?
Humanoid robots are bipedal robots with arms, hands, and roughly human-like proportions designed to operate in human environments and perform general-purpose tasks (Tesla Optimus, 1X NEO, Figure 03, Apptronik Apollo, Boston Dynamics Atlas, Unitree G1). Industrial robots are fixed-base manipulator arms designed for specific factory-automation tasks at high precision and reliability (FANUC, Universal Robots, KUKA, ABB). The categories share the word 'robot' but operate at substantively different scales (industrial robotics is a mature commercial category with hundreds of thousands of installed units; humanoid robotics is an emerging category with consumer-deployment at single-manufacturer scale).Read the full explainer →
What is physical AI?
Physical AI refers to AI systems that operate in the physical world rather than purely in digital environments. The category spans autonomous vehicles, humanoid robots, autonomous mobile robots in warehouses, drones, and AI-augmented industrial automation. Physical AI differs from digital-only AI in that the system must perceive, decide, and act under physical-world constraints (sensor noise, latency, mechanical failure modes, regulatory frameworks). DEPLOY tracks physical AI across four subcategories with distinct verification frameworks per category.Read the full explainer →
What is a foundation model for robotics?
A foundation model for robotics extends the large-language-model paradigm to physical-action prediction. Trained on robot demonstrations rather than internet text alone, these models output action sequences (motor commands, manipulator trajectories) rather than text tokens. The category is dominated by vision-language-action (VLA) architectures that take camera images plus optional language instructions as input and produce action tokens as output. Companies building these models constitute the brain-provider tier of the robotics value chain, distinct from the humanoid OEM tier that builds the physical platforms the models run on.Read the full explainer →
What is Skild AI and the Skild Brain foundation model?
Skild AI is a US foundation-model-for-robotics company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, founded by Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta (both Carnegie Mellon University robotics-research alumni). The company's Skild Brain product is a vision-language-action (VLA) foundation model architected around a cross-platform general-purpose thesis: a single model trained to operate across multiple robot platforms rather than platform-specific brains. Skild has raised substantial 2024-2025 funding rounds; the company is privately held and represents a distinctive position in the brain-provider tier of the robotics value chain.Read the full explainer →
Which companies build foundation models for robotics, and how do they compare?
The brain-provider tier of robotics in 2026 includes several distinct strategic theses. Skild AI pursues cross-platform general-purpose brain deployment. Physical Intelligence (Pi-0; Pi-0.5) emphasizes transformer-based VLA research publications. Covariant specializes in warehouse-automation foundation models. Google DeepMind operates Gemini Robotics and RT-2 across AV and humanoid research. OpenAI Robotics relaunched in May 2026 after a 2021 hiatus. NVIDIA Project GR00T pursues cross-platform humanoid integration aligned with NVIDIA's broader stack. Meta operates research-publication-emphasizing work via FAIR and Reality Labs. The cohort is at research-and-demonstration verification depth; commercial-scale deployment lags behind humanoid OEM commercial deployment substantially.Read the full explainer →
What's the difference between robotics brain providers and robot makers?
Robotics value chain operates across three structural tiers. Brain-provider tier companies (Skild AI, Physical Intelligence, Covariant, Google DeepMind, OpenAI Robotics, NVIDIA Project GR00T) build foundation models for robotics without making hardware. OEM-platform tier companies (Figure AI, Apptronik, 1X Technologies, Tesla, Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Unitree, UBTech) build robot hardware platforms with integrated brains. Deployment tier represents real-world operation at customer facilities (BMW Spartanburg, GXO Flowery Branch, Mercedes-Benz pilots). The three tiers operate complementarily; understanding which tier a company occupies is essential for evaluating its competitive position and verification posture.Read the full explainer →
What does Figure's BMW Spartanburg humanoid deployment actually look like?
The Figure 02 humanoid robot has operated in production at BMW Group's Spartanburg, South Carolina plant since August 2024, contributing to the assembly of more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles over an 11-month deployment that accumulated 1,250 hours of runtime handling more than 90,000 parts in chassis-assembly tasks. The deployment is the canonical commercial humanoid manufacturing reference for the cohort, with end-product OEM acceptance verification distinguishing it from peer humanoid deployments. BMW Group has announced expansion to its Plant Leipzig facility as the second humanoid production site. Figure's current-generation Figure 03 is deployed at Catalyst Brands Reno, not at BMW; BMW Spartanburg remains the Figure 02 deployment anchor as of mid-2026.Read the full explainer →
What is Figure's Catalyst Brands Reno humanoid deployment?
The Figure 03 humanoid is deployed at Catalyst Brands' Reno, Nevada distribution logistics center in a pilot operation that represents Figure AI's verified non-manufacturing deployment context. Catalyst Brands is the corporate parent of Forever 21, Brooks Brothers, Aeropostale, Lucky Brand, Nautica, and other retail brands under the SPARC Group restructuring. The Reno deployment is Figure's logistics-and-distribution operational reference, complementing the Figure 02 BMW Spartanburg manufacturing reference and demonstrating Figure's dual-vertical commercial strategy across two structurally distinct deployment contexts.Read the full explainer →
What is the Apptronik Apollo deployment at Mercedes-Benz?
Apptronik's Apollo humanoid is deployed at Mercedes-Benz's Berlin-Marienfelde manufacturing facility in a pilot operation that represents Apollo's premium-segment automotive verification reference. The Mercedes-Benz partnership is one of three Apptronik enterprise customer relationships (alongside GXO Logistics and Jabil) that together establish Apollo's three-customer enterprise-deployment breadth strategy, structurally distinct from Figure AI's dual-vertical positioning and Agility's single-vertical depth specialization.Read the full explainer →
What is the Atlas deployment at Hyundai Metaplant America?
Boston Dynamics' Atlas humanoid is deployed at Hyundai Metaplant America's Savannah, Georgia EV manufacturing facility in a pilot operation that represents Atlas's verified enterprise customer relationship. The deployment is structurally distinguished by Hyundai's corporate-parent relationship with Boston Dynamics (Hyundai Motor Group acquired Boston Dynamics from SoftBank in 2021), creating a maker-customer relationship that differs from the arms-length customer relationships of cohort peers Figure-BMW, Apptronik-Mercedes, and Agility-GXO.Read the full explainer →
What is Figure 02?
Figure 02 is the second-generation general-purpose humanoid robot from Figure AI, a US company in Sunnyvale, California. It ran Figure's flagship deployment at BMW's Spartanburg plant, contributing to vehicle production over about ten months in 2025, and has since been retired in favor of the newer Figure 03.Read the full explainer →
Is Figure 02 autonomous?
Partly, but the fully autonomous framing is Figure's own claim, not an independently verified fact. Figure 02 runs Figure's Helix AI model, which is trained on human teleoperation data, and Figure describes its BMW factory work as autonomous. DEPLOY records that autonomy as manufacturer-claimed rather than independently confirmed.Read the full explainer →
How much does Figure 03 cost?
There is no verified price for Figure 03, and you cannot buy one. Figure has not released consumer pricing and does not sell the robot to consumers; its verified use is a single enterprise deployment at Catalyst Brands' Reno distribution center. Analyst estimates circulate, but DEPLOY does not treat them as pricing data.Read the full explainer →
Figure 03 vs Tesla Optimus: which is further along?
Both are general-purpose humanoids, but they sit at different stages. Figure 03 has a partner-confirmed paid commercial deployment (logistics at Catalyst Brands' Reno center); Tesla Optimus has no verified external commercial sale and is recorded at research-and-development maturity. Neither has independently verified full autonomy, and neither is sold to consumers.Read the full explainer →
Which humanoid robot is most deployed?
UBTech's Walker S2 leads with roughly 13 verified customer sites (Foxconn, BYD, NIO, Geely, FAW-VW, Audi-FAW, Airbus Hamburg, TI Sherman, SF Express). Digit is second at ~10, Unitree G1 third. Optimus doesn't count: no site is outside Tesla.Read the full explainer →

Current leadership (4)

ArrivalsKyle Edelberg from Boston Dynamics

DeparturesKyle Edelberg to Boston Dynamics

Founders (1)

See all founders across the registry →

Former / Previously (2)

Safety record

1 incident on record (1 moderate). Most recent: Nov 2025.

moderate
1

Most recent: Nov 2025

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →

Incidents affecting Figure AI (1)

Includes incidents linked directly to this company, to its models, or to deployments of its models or under its operation. Retracted incidents are excluded from this view but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Operator customers (2)

Brains developed (1)

Recent coverage

Figure AI in third-party press

Musk declares Tesla Robotaxi win over Waymo, but Waymo still drives 7x more

Oct 27, 2026

Humanoid robot walks 1.2 million steps in a grueling 9-day treadmill stress test

Oct 19, 2026

Robot AI developer Ruoyu secures Pre-A funding led by Sunway Communication

Oct 16, 2026

Peers

93 peers across 1 segment. Every Figure AI competitor derived from shared form-factor and application-domain edges.

humanoid(93)

68 companies in this segment · competitive (HHI 574.5255335898561) · leader Figure AI at 1207%

Mentioned on (26)

Registry pages whose text names Figure AI.

Robots and products (3)

Figure 02, Figure 03, Hark device (unnamed)

Appears in DEPLOY reports