In 11 months the Figure 02 robots carried out 1,250 hours of work in the BMW factory in Spartanburg in the United States
What you see in the photos above are the hands of a robot who works in BMW: this is one of the examples of humanoid robot Figures 02tested in the factory Spartanburgin the US state of South Carolina starting from November 2024 and then permanently inserted into the organ in March 2025. In recent days AI figuresthe Californian company that produces the 02 robot, has published a report in which it tells the story what they did in 11 months his robots in the Bavarian car factory and, above all, how they did it.
ROBOT WORKERS
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The robots’ work shift Figures 02 in Spartanburg was of 10 consecutive hoursfrom Monday to Friday, for a total of 1,250 hours worked overall by all the robots, also considering machine downtime for maintenance and various measurements. Humanoid automatons were inserted into the assembly line of BMW X3 SUVin a special section separate from the one where human workers work (but the robots were supervised by humans). In all this time the Figure 02s have been charging further 90,000 componentsmainly pressed sheet metal, have gone further 1.2 million steps and traveled further 320 kilometers. The first robot test at BMW consisted of loading sheet metal, a classic “pick-and-place” task typical of automotive production. A robot takes sheet metal pieces from shelves or containers and places them on a device weldingafter which six-axis industrial robots weld the parts and transfer them to the main line of the production chain. In this work there is a tolerance of just 5 millimeters in positioning e 2 seconds in execution times.
FIGURE 02 HE IS ALREADY RETIRED
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The paradox of this test is that it went wellbut the robot Figures 02 it already was decommissioned: the whole operation was mainly used to collect data that was used to refine the project and pre-train the new robot Figures 03presented in October 2025. One lesson from the work carried out by Figure 02, which influenced the design of Figure 03, was that relating torobot forearmthe main weak point of the test in BMW. The forearm is a complex subsystem due to its thin shape, mobility requirements (three degrees of freedom), and thermal constraints. The forearm of Figures 02 it contained a microcontroller-based circuit board that distributed communications between the main computer and the wrist actuators. For Figures 03was completely redesigned wrist electronics to eliminate both the board and dynamic wiring. Each wrist’s motor controller now communicates directly with the main computer, reducing complexity, improving reliability and simplifying thermal management.
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