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Figure will start ‘alpha testing’ its humanoid robot in the home in 2025 | TechCrunch

Feb 27, 2025 - techcrunch.com
Figure, a Bay Area robotics startup, plans to begin "alpha testing" its Figure 02 humanoid robots in home settings by late 2025, earlier than initially expected. This accelerated timeline is attributed to the company's Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model, Helix, which processes visual and natural language data to quickly learn new tasks. Figure recently ended its partnership with OpenAI to focus on proprietary models like Helix, which can coordinate two robots working on a single task. The company has already shown early home testing and released videos of robots performing household tasks, such as food preparation.

While Figure is moving towards home deployment, it has primarily focused on industrial applications, piloting its humanoid systems at a BMW plant in South Carolina in early 2024. Factories and warehouses are considered safer and more structured environments for initial trials. The home robotics market is challenging due to factors like pricing, diverse home environments, and the presence of pets and children. Despite these challenges, Figure's 2025 home plans indicate that testing will remain in early stages throughout the year. Other companies, like Apptronik, Tesla, and Norwegian startup 1X, are also exploring home robotics, particularly for assisting aging populations.

Key takeaways:

  • Figure is accelerating its timeline to bring humanoid robots into homes, planning to start alpha testing the Figure 02 robot in 2025.
  • The company's Vision-Language-Action model, Helix, is key to this acceleration, allowing robots to process visual and natural language data for faster task learning.
  • Figure has shifted focus from a partnership with OpenAI to developing its proprietary AI models like Helix.
  • While home deployment is on the roadmap, initial trials and deployments are focused on industrial settings like BMW's South Carolina plant.
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