Figure is retiring its F.02 fleet. The American manufacturer announced the move on its website and described how it got rid of the robots: by having them jump into a furnace of molten steel in Finland. The operation was filmed and carried out with the help of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
According to Figure, the F.02 marked several firsts for the company: its first deployment at BMW, the birth of its Helix system, its first robot performing household chores and its first deployment in logistics. With the F.03 fleet ramping up, there was no longer any point in maintaining the previous generation, the manufacturer writes.
Why Figure melted the F.02 robots instead of dismantling them
Figure explains that these machines contain custom-designed actuators, the motors that drive their joints, along with other components that are part of its intellectual property. They therefore had to be disposed of in a way that protected this proprietary hardware. Dismantling each robot would have tied up the engineering teams to the point of delaying the launch of the F.04, the manufacturer says.
According to Figure, the idea of melting them came from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was approached after the company asked the question online. Schwarzenegger wanted to take part, and the project came together. Figure says that none of the foundries it contacted in the United States and Mexico would agree to have a robot fitted with lithium-ion batteries dropped into their equipment. The company says it even reached out to former members of the MythBusters show to help with its search. The only site willing to take on the operation was in Imatra, Finland.
How Figure trained the F.02 to jump into molten steel
Figure says it trained its robots to jump into the molten steel autonomously. Training began at its San Jose campus, using large inflatable cushions, with the robots jumping from the second floor of a building. Using stunt performers’ movements as a reference, the team trained a new artificial intelligence model in simulation so that the machines would land precisely in the bath of metal, at a foundry it had never visited.
On site, according to Figure, three graphite electrodes power a 75-tonne electric arc furnace that melts scrap metal. The team had 24 hours and six heats to succeed, with each heat offering a window of only 20 minutes before the steel cooled and formed a crust. Despite the heat and the electromagnetic fields, the robots ran their AI policies without interruption, while camera gear and other electronic equipment failed in that environment, the manufacturer reports.
What Figure is making from the recycled metal
After the melt, Figure says it shipped the resulting metal bars back to the United States. The metal is now being machined into a limited series of objects commemorating the F.02. The manufacturer says only a small number will be produced.
Most of the F.02 fleet is gone, Figure writes, with a few units kept in storage at its headquarters. In its post, the manufacturer stresses one point: at a time when AI-generated images are proliferating, it insists that it really did train the robots to jump autonomously, ship them to Finland and have them plunge into a vat of molten steel.
Further reading: Figure 03: specifications, battery life and use at BMW · Figure AI: humanoid robots, Helix AI and the BotQ factory