AI Brains in a Humanoid Robot: Meet Figure 02

A new humanoid robot just dropped. Here's everything you need to know about the Figure 02 robot, where it fits into an increasingly crowded field of humanoid robots and what comes next.

The wires seen in the Figure 01 robot are more tucked away in Figure 02, indicating the company is moving away from the prototyping phase when you might want easy access to different components for fixes and adjustments, toward something closer to a production model.

Tucking away the wiring is a common evolution we've seen in other second generation humanoid robots, including the Teslabot and Atlas from Boston Dynamics.

Six onboard cameras provide the Figure 02 with its view of the world, and hands with 10 fingers and 16 degrees of freedom will have what Figure calls "human-like strength."

A closeup shot of the hands includes the words "Max 25kg," which is about 55 pounds. That would be an increase from Figure 01's carrying capacity of 20kg, or 44 pounds. 

Figure says improvements to the battery pack, which is built into the robot's torso, extend the robot's original 5-hour runtime by providing over 50% more energy.

Figure also has a partnership with OpenAI that allows people to converse with the robot via built-in speakers and microphones, much like the conversational feature in ChatGPT's mobile app.

Figure also has embarked on a partnership with BMW, allowing the company to test out how these robots could be put to use in automobile manufacturing.

To see the Figure 02 in action check out the video in this article.