Every time I blink, the robots have advanced.
The robot company I've been keeping my eyes on for some time, Figure AI, is probably the most advanced in terms of an automated robot company getting to market... mostly because it's technically already there.
Their Figure 01 model was a marvel that I talked about briefly last year. These incredible robots could move well, identify the value and nature of different objects, and even discuss these objects with you, as you can see in the video below. Moreover, these robots were being tested in BMW factories in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
But now, Figure AI has given their robot a massive upgrade, and we're now on Figure 02, a robot that is far more agile, computationally faster, and far more efficient than its predecessor.
Figure 02 is already deployed in BMW's South Carolina factories, and they're already reporting a massive uptick in efficiency and work completion, faster by a whopping 400 percent.
Figure x BMW update
— Figure (@Figure_robot) November 19, 2024
Figure 02 is now an autonomous fleet, operating the end-to-end use case 400% faster with a 7x higher success rate
Figure is committed to shipping millions of robots to companies and homes worldwide pic.twitter.com/QDQ7kr736W
“The Figure 02 is the most advanced humanoid robot in the world to reach the market so far. Recently it has been used successfully to place sheet metal parts into special fixtures," said Brett Adcock, founder and CEO of Figure. "Downstream in the process, the components are assembled to form part of the body. During testing, the robot demonstrated particular tactile capabilities.”
According to BMW, these robots are the cutting-edge:
Compared with its predecessor, the latest robot offers a threefold increase in computing power and improved voice communication. Incorporating sophisticated cameras, microphones and sensors, it is also equipped with a more powerful battery. The hands of the fourth-generation model are the size of an average human hand and offer 16 active degrees of freedom per hand, coming remarkably close to the strength of a human.
The robot can perform fully autonomously a variety of human-like tasks that require precision and dynamic manipulations, complex gripping and two-handed coordination. It can position a range of tricky components accurately to the millimetre and move flexibly while making the most of the efficiency of its design.
The Figure 02 supports plant employees performing ergonomically awkward and exhausting tasks to take the strain off them. The safety of humanoid robots in automotive production is under constant assessment.
It's that last line I think is meant to address everyone's very obvious question.
What about the human workers?
As cool as it is to watch these robots work, one has to wonder if it's necessary for robots to move one piece of metal from a wrack over to another place just behind them. While I'm sure there are definitely some "ergonomically awkward" tasks robots would be great at, even humans are willing to do "exhausting tasks" in order to have a job. We've been doing "exhausting tasks" since time immemorial. We're a species known for tracking prey for miles, I think we can handle taking one object to another spot three feet behind us.
Not that BMW is wholly turning its back on its human workforce. According to Reuters, it's investing quite a bit of money in retraining employees to do other jobs within the company that are integral to its new wave of cars, specifically EVs:
BMW is investing 400 million euros a year in its training programmes. Moritz Kippenberger, vice president for HR services, recruiting and qualifications, estimates that more than 90% of the skills the carmaker needs can be achieved by add-on training to its employees’ existing skill sets. The company puts stress on lifelong learning.
But “there are obviously specific areas, such as electricians, where we need more, so we have to find new people, or upskill existing people, to make sure they meet new standards. It's also a training effort for the whole of the product development team to be able to build and design electric vehicles.”
[...]
BMW is placing a huge emphasis on digital skills, with a mandatory training effort to give 70,000 employees in 43 countries digital literacy skills, including cloud computing, the metaverse, data analytics and AI. It’s one of the largest training initiatives in BMW history and an example of a constant skills evolution.
“One thing that is important is to get everybody involved and make them part of the upcoming change, but also to leverage the opportunities that will grow with the development of artificial intelligence,” says Kippenberger.
Figure AI has all intention to make these robots domestic, not just industrial. The goal is to eventually get these robots in the home, doing all the menial day-to-day tasks such as washing and putting away dishes, vacuuming floors, and more.
Factory floors are repetitive with very little in the way of change in the day to day, homes are a much more chaotic scene, with kids, dogs, and goings on. Figure 2 seems to be built to handle that level of chaos according to Toms Guide:
One of the biggest updates is an onboard Vision-Language Model (VLM) that “enables fast common-sense visual reasoning from robot cameras.”
This allows it to make decisions based on even unexpected events and actions that couldn’t be pre-programmed.
Figure says: “The exciting thing is that Figure 02 paves a path for humanoid robots to enter the workforce and the home.” While this model might not work in the factory with a human, it is the next big step in that direction and a sign of what to expect.
It is also capable of holding a natural conversation with humans and does so through speakers and microphones with custom AI models powering each element and interaction including a speech-to-speech model similar to GPT-4o.
That last part is more for our benefit than the robots. I'm a GPT user myself, and I've held many interesting voice-to-voice conversations with the program about many things, and it does sound remarkably human. This would be needed for a robot in the home, as a robotic hunk of metal roaming around would be off-putting, but an ability to interact with you in a more natural fashion takes it from being a thing to a personality in your home.
This would be especially helpful for people who require assistance daily, such as the crippled, injured, or the elderly. Figure says its first and foremost goal is to "improve the quality of life for humans," and that Figure 02 "brings us closer to achieving that vision."
Keep in mind that Figure 01 was being shown off not even a full year ago, and that Figure 02 was a massive upgrade from that. I can only imagine how fast Figure 03 will arrive and what its upgrades will look like.
The question is always, and should always be, what will this look like for humans? Will this upgrade force a round of layoffs or require shifting skill sets? We don't have to wait for the answer, as BMW already gave that to us.
Yes.
The question we need to ask is where we start drawing lines. What can the robots take and what can't they? How do we address the obvious job loss this will incur?
The future of autonomous robots is very exciting, but these drawbacks can't be ignored, and we need to address them now.
