Figure AI.

Figure AI builds general-purpose humanoid robots for the workforce. The form factor is deliberate. Two legs, two arms, hands. Factories, warehouses, and homes were built around the human body, so a machine that matches it can work in those places without remodeling them. One robot with a general interface can serve millions of tasks.

The current robot is Figure 03, which the company describes as a general-purpose humanoid robot for every day. It runs Helix, Figure's in-house AI system, built to handle unpredictable, ever-changing environments. The stated problem is blunt. By the company's count, there are over 10 million unsafe or undesirable jobs in the U.S. alone, and an aging population will make them harder to fill.

What they're building

Figure's master plan runs in three phases: build a feature-complete electromechanical humanoid, then perform human-like manipulation, and finally integrate humanoids into the labor force. First markets are manufacturing, shipping and logistics, warehousing, and retail. Those are the environments where the company says labor shortages are most severe. Behind those sit the home and care for an aging population, which is where Figure 03 and Helix are already pointed.

Two problems sit under everything. One is the AI. A humanoid is only as useful as the system driving it, and Helix is Figure's bet that a single system can generalize across tasks instead of being scripted per job. The other is cost. The master plan calls plainly for reducing unit costs through high-rate volume manufacturing. That makes Figure as much a manufacturing company as a robotics company.

Why we backed the founders and team

Humanoid robotics is where AI meets the physical world, and the demo is the easy part. The hard part is actuators that survive years of duty cycles, hands that hold tolerance, supply chains, safety standards for working next to people, and unit economics that close at volume. That long middle, where nothing demos well, is where Figure is spending its time.

It is also an assembly problem, which is the kind we look for. The robot only works if the AI, the electromechanical hardware, and the manufacturing all work, and Figure is building all three under one roof. If general-purpose robots arrive this decade, they will come from a company that treats the factory as part of the product. Figure is building that way.