Figure AI
Leading humanoid robotics company developing AI-powered general-purpose robots
Overview
Figure AI is a US robotics company founded in 2022 by Brett Adcock, focused on developing AI-powered general-purpose humanoid robots. The company has rapidly emerged as a leader in the humanoid robotics market with significant industrial deployments.
| Item | Details |
|---|
| Headquarters | Sunnyvale, California |
| Founded | 2022 |
| CEO | Brett Adcock |
| Funding | ~$1.9B |
| Valuation | $39B (September 2025) |
Founding Team
Brett Adcock (CEO & Founder)
Serial entrepreneur with previous ventures:
- Archer Aviation: Electric air taxi company (IPO)
- Vettery: AI hiring marketplace (acquired by Adecco)
Product Line
| Generation | Year | Purpose |
|---|
| Figure 01 | 2023 | Prototype |
| Figure 02 | 2024 | Industrial pilot |
| Figure 03 | 2025 | Commercial mass production |
| Item | Spec |
|---|
| Height | ~170cm |
| Weight | 70kg |
| Payload | 20kg |
| Battery | Up to 5 hours continuous operation |
| Onboard GPU | NVIDIA RTX-based (3x computing power vs Figure 01) |
| Item | Spec |
|---|
| Size | ~9% lighter than Figure 02 |
| Battery | 2.3 kWh (5 hours, 50% improvement over Figure 02) |
| Hands | Can carry up to 50 lbs (~23kg) |
| Features | Soft textiles, wireless charging, palm cameras, tactile sensors |
| Target Price | Under $20,000 (at mass production, estimated) |
AI Technology: Helix VLA
In-house developed Vision-Language-Action model after ending OpenAI partnership in February 2025:
| System | Role | Frequency | Parameters |
|---|
| System 2 (S2) | High-level planning, scene understanding, language processing | 7-9 Hz | 7B |
| System 1 (S1) | Low-level control, real-time action execution | 200 Hz | 80M |
Key Features
- 35 DoF full upper-body control
- First VLA for high-speed continuous humanoid control (Figure AI claim)
- Runs fully onboard on embedded low-power GPUs
- First VLA to operate simultaneously on two robots for collaborative tasks
- Trained on 500 hours of teleoperation data
Industrial Deployments
BMW Factory Pilot (2024-2025)
| Item | Content |
|---|
| Location | BMW Spartanburg Plant (South Carolina) |
| Duration | 11 months (partnership announced January 2024) |
| Robots | 2 Figure 02 units |
| Tasks | Lifting sheet metal parts from bins and placing on welding fixtures (5mm tolerance) |
| Operating Time | Monday-Friday, 10-hour shifts, 1,250 total hours |
| Results | 90,000+ parts processed, contributed to 30,000+ BMW X3 production |
Funding History
| Period | Round | Amount | Valuation | Key Investors |
|---|
| 2023 | Series A | ~$70M | - | Early investors |
| 2024.02 | Series B | $675M | $2.6B | Jeff Bezos, Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Intel, Amazon, ARK Invest |
| 2025.09 | Series C | $1B+ | $39B | Parkway Venture Capital (lead), Brookfield, NVIDIA, Intel, Microsoft, OpenAI, Salesforce, T-Mobile, Qualcomm, LG |
Total Funding: ~$1.9B
Key Milestones
- 2022.05: Brett Adcock founded company with $100M of his own capital
- 2023.03.02: Figure 01 unveiled
- 2023.05: Series A funding $70M completed
- 2024.01.18: Commercial agreement with BMW Manufacturing announced
- 2024.02.29: Series B funding $675M and OpenAI partnership announced
- 2024.08.06: Figure 02 announced
- 2025.02.04: OpenAI partnership ended, transition to in-house Helix VLA announced
- 2025.03.15: BotQ factory announced (12,000 units/year target)
- 2025.09.16: Series C funding $1B+, achieved $39B valuation
- 2025.10.09: Figure 03 announced
References
See Also