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Figure AI announced that it had signed its second major commercial partner, bringing the dream of humanoid robots from labs into everyday life closer than ever. CEO Brett Adcock said the deal might make it possible to ship 100,000 humanoid robots over the next four years.
While details of the new customer remain under wraps, Adcock claims it is “one of the biggest U.S. companies,” spurring immediate speculation that it could be a large retailer or technology enterprise with significant labor needs.
Adcock’s remarks came in an update on LinkedIn, where he emphasized the importance of forging deep relationships with high-capacity customers rather than spreading the company’s efforts thin across many smaller clients. “Our newest customer is one of the biggest U.S. companies,” Adcock said.
“It gives us potential to ship at high volumes which will drive cost reduction and AI data collection. Between both customers, we believe there is a path to 100,000 robots over the next four years.”
The company’s first publicly named client is automotive giant BMW, which signed on late last year. The latest announcement sets the stage for what could be a significant step toward mainstream adoption of humanoid robots, especially in large-scale operations like manufacturing, logistics, or healthcare.
Figure AI strategy and progressAdcock also reiterated Figure AI’s dual-market strategy. “We’re focused on two markets: commercial and home,” he said. While the commercial side could entail distribution centers, factories, and other industrial sites, the domestic market opens doors to home-use robots assisting with tasks that range from mundane chores to more specialized roles in healthcare.
Figure AI stands out due to the speed of its product rollouts. The company launched its first humanoid, Figure 01, just 31 months after incorporation and subsequently shipped Figure 02. Reports also suggest that Figure 03 is “up and running in the lab,” indicating an ongoing quest for improved performance and functionality.
Figure 01, which debuted in January 2024, operated at about 17 percent of an average human’s walking speed. Figure 02, the current iteration, has reportedly increased that pace by seven times, moving at 3.9 feet (1.2 meters) per second, roughly 2.68 miles per hour. While still somewhat slower than a typical human stride, Figure appears confident that additional improvements are imminent.
A notable aspect of Figure’s robots is their reliance on artificial intelligence. “Last week, we successfully began running an end-to-end neural network on the new client’s use case,” Adcock said in his update. “Learning the use case with AI is the only path here as heuristics would be impossible to write.”
He also mentioned that each instance of these AI-driven policies in action “feels like pure magic,” highlighting the potential for self-learning robots to adapt quickly to different tasks.
Competition and industry outlookPlayers like Agility Robotics, Tesla’s Optimus project, Unitree, Apptronik, Sanctuary AI, and Agibot are all scrambling to secure footholds in this emerging market.
Recent initiatives by Chinese companies and the government represent its commitment to becoming a leader in humanoid robotics. In December 2024, Zhiyuan Robotics, also known as Agibot, showcased its capacity to produce 1,000 humanoid robots by year’s end.
This was followed by MagicLab’s introduction of its third-generation humanoid, MagicBot, aimed to compete with global leaders like Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, further reinforcing its capabilities by deploying a fleet of these robots for industrial training. These milestones go hand in hand with China’s 2023 strategy to embed humanoid robots deeply into its industrial fabric by 2027, aiming for widespread application across various sectors of society.
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Nevertheless, combining a second high-profile customer and the possibility of delivering 100,000 humanoid robots could place Figure firmly at the forefront of the commercial robotics sector, worldwide.
As Adcock suggested, shipping significant quantities of robots to real-world environments will create a robust feedback loop for AI data collection and iterative design improvements.
Recently, Figure was mentioned in a Forbes list of the top 16 humanoid robot manufacturers, and Figure 2 was also a part of Interesting Engineering’s top 10 humanoid robots to look out for in 2025.