Figure AI, the three-year-old Silicon Valley startup founded in 2022 by Brett Adcock, introduced its third-generation humanoid robot, Figure 03, marking a significant pivot toward scalable commercial viability. While competitors have often focused on advanced prototype capabilities, Figure AI appears to have solved the critical barrier of high-volume manufacturing, a feat potentially more transformative than the hardware itself. This focus on production infrastructure contrasts with the unproven output projections of other major players in the sector.
To achieve manufacturability, Figure AI fundamentally engineered Figure 03 with mass production as the core constraint, abandoning the slow, expensive process of CNC machining. The company instead favored high-volume techniques such as die-casting and injection molding, requiring a substantial initial investment in tooling. This strategic shift underpins the company's dedicated manufacturing facility, BotQ, which is engineered to initially yield up to 12,000 humanoid units annually. Figure AI has an aggressive four-year trajectory aiming for a total output of 100,000 robots, supported by a vertically integrated supply chain of global partners delivering millions of necessary components.
The hardware advancements in Figure 03 are purpose-built to serve its Helix AI system. The robot features a redesigned sensory array, offering cameras with twice the frame rate and a 60% wider field of view than its predecessor, alongside one-quarter the latency. Dexterity is enhanced through custom tactile sensors on each fingertip, sensitive enough to register forces as slight as three grams—the weight of a paperclip—enabling genuinely delicate manipulation. Operational data, in terabytes, is uploaded at 10 Gbps via mmWave, creating a continuous, fleet-wide learning network.
Designed for both industrial and unpredictable home settings, Figure 03 incorporates soft, washable textiles and multi-density foam instead of hard machined surfaces for enhanced safety. The new model is 9% lighter than the Figure 02, supports 2-kilowatt wireless inductive charging, and has achieved UN38.3 certification for its battery system. Figure AI plans to utilize its own humanoid robots within the BotQ process to build subsequent units, a step expected to increase line automation this year.
The potential market impact of accessible, manufactured humanoids is vast. While projections vary, analysts at Morgan Stanley foresee a $3 trillion U.S. market by 2050 based on labor substitution, whereas ABI Research forecasts a $6.5 billion global market by the end of the decade, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 138% between 2024 and 2030. Figure AI, which secured $675 million from backers including NVIDIA and OpenAI, has concentrated on these engineering fundamentals, suggesting that the leap from concept to accessible reality is now achievable.