Figure 01

What it's for

Figure 01 was the robot meant to answer one question: can a humanoid be brought into a real factory at all? The answer was BMW in Spartanburg; in the data its use case is "training and first tasks" at the American carmaker's plant. In that role the robot performed simple actions at a workstation while Figure AI gathered experience from working in a real plant. The first model was therefore meant not for production, but for gathering experience.

The parameters we know describe a logistics robot: 160 cm tall, 60 kg, a payload of up to 20 kg and about 5 hours of battery runtime, with a battery of roughly 1.5 kWh in the torso. Numbers like these suit moving containers and light parts in a factory or warehouses, and those are precisely the scenarios in which Figure 01 was shown. Today, though, it is a retired platform, so its "use" is purely historical.

Why is it still worth knowing? Because it shows the path of a company that is now scaling up production of its third generation (Figure 03). What that path looks like and what it means for the market is covered in “Figure 03: What We Know About Figure AI's Third-Generation Robot”, and the general picture of humanoids in plants in “Humanoid Robots in Factories 2026”. You can't buy it for your own hall; you read about it the way you would about an important museum piece.

Who it's for

Yes: for readers who want to understand the industry's development from the beginning, such as analysts, journalists, investors and students. Figure 01 is a good starting point for a conversation about how a startup caught up in under three years with longer-established rivals like Tesla or Boston Dynamics.

No: for anyone who wants to buy a robot. The model's status is "retired", it was never sold commercially and was never available in Poland. Not for purchasing departments or integrators. Not for people looking for a full specification either: Figure AI never published a spec sheet for the first generation, so we don't know the number of degrees of freedom or many other parameters. If you need a humanoid for work, turn to its successors, such as the Figure 03, or to robots that can be bought in Poland, for example the Unitree G1. How to interpret such gaps in the data is explained in “How to Read a Robot Datasheet”.

Deployments

The only confirmed environment is BMW Spartanburg, where Figure 01 performed its first training tasks before later generations replaced it.

What's happening in the category? This robot's successors are working at BMW today: according to a July 2026 announcement, the Figure 02 and 03 supported the production of more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles in Spartanburg over ten months. In Europe, Mercedes-Benz is testing humanoids with the Apptronik Apollo. A broader overview of deployments is in “Humanoid Robots in Factories 2026”.

If you're interested in the same type of robot, but in a version that is alive on the market:

Figure 03: the direct successor: 172 cm, 61 kg, 35 DOF, hands with 16 degrees of freedom and touch sensors; it works at BMW Spartanburg, though without a public price.

Figure 02: the second generation from 2024; it worked at BMW for nearly a year and is the company's best-documented model, though it too is retired.

Tesla Optimus Gen 1: a peer from Tesla (173 cm, 57 kg, unveiled in September 2022); a similar prototype stage, but with no deployment at an outside customer.

Agility Digit: a humanoid from Agility Robotics, current fleet; focused on logistics and already working in warehouses.

Apptronik Apollo: a modular humanoid tested by Mercedes-Benz and GXO Logistics, likewise in a B2B pilot model.

March 2023: Figure AI unveils Figure 01, its first general-purpose humanoid. Two months later the company raises USD 70 million in seed funding. In January 2024 it announces a partnership with BMW, and in February a USD 675 million round from investors including Bezos, Microsoft, Nvidia, Intel, Amazon and OpenAI, at a valuation of USD 2.6 billion. The same month also brings a partnership with OpenAI on AI models.

In August 2024 the first generation is replaced by the Figure 02, and in October 2025 by the Figure 03. In September 2025 Figure AI closes a Series C round of over USD 1 billion at a post-money valuation of USD 39 billion (Figure AI). The short time from first prototype to a valuation in the tens of billions is one of the most interesting threads in the market (“Humanoid Robot Market Forecasts”).