Much has changed in the 16 months since I last set foot in Figure’s Sunnyvale headquarters. For one thing, there’s signage on the outside of what was an otherwise non-descript Silicon Valley office building in an equally non-descript Silicon Valley office park. For another, there’s no longer an empty desk in sight. The robotics company currently employs 130 engineers, according to CEO Brett Adcock, who met me on site for a better look at the company’s latest humanoid robot, Figure 02. Next year, Figure will be using some of its $1.5 billion in funding to move into new, larger digs a short car ride away. Robots line the rear of the space, in various states of disassembly. Shelves, too, are packed with pieces of arms and heads by the dozen. A silver Figure 01 hangs on full display. I asked to photograph the robot, and was jokingly told it’s “old news.” Since my May 2023 visit, Figure has opened the systems integration and testing wing of its current space. Adcock refers to it as “the back,” despite the fact that it’s really more off to the side. It’s here the robot’s many components are put through their paces. The real show, however, is smack in the middle of the primary office space. Caged off from the row of desks, Figure engineers go hands-on with the robots here, testing for all manner of real-world work scenarios. There’s currently a heavy emphasis on automotive assembly, a direct product of the company’s recent pilots with BMW. Earlier this year, Figure robots were put to work for a couple of weeks at the carmaker’s Spartanburg, South Carolina, plant. According to Adcock, the company’s humanoids worked nearly around the clock, seven days a week. While moving totes is a key task, it’s not the only one the company is currently working on. Figure robots will be returning to the plant in January, this time for good. Adcock says the initial fleet will be in the mid-to-high single digits.
Full opinion : Face to face with Figure’s new humanoid robot.
