Recently, the collaboration between OpenAI, a leader in the field of artificial intelligence, and Figure AI, a startup specializing in humanoid robots, has drawn significant attention from the global tech community. This partnership not only provides Figure AI with a technological boost but is also seen as a crucial step toward achieving “human-like intelligence” in humanoid robots. Since its inception, Figure AI has been dedicated to developing humanoid robots capable of adapting to complex environments and performing diverse tasks. With OpenAI’s active involvement, its robot product “Figure 01” is undergoing a fundamental transformation from simple mechanical responses to intelligent autonomous decision-making. Brett Adcock, CEO of Figure AI, stated that by integrating OpenAI’s latest advancements in natural language processing, multimodal cognition, and reinforcement learning, the company’s humanoid robots will establish a tighter connection between perception, understanding, and action. This implies that future robots will no longer merely be an extension of industrial automation but could become “digital workers” in fields such as households, healthcare, and services.
From perception to interaction, Figure AI robots can now respond in a “human-like” manner
According to a recent demonstration video released by Figure AI, its latest humanoid robot can already perform a series of complex human-machine interaction tasks. For example, without human intervention, the robot can understand voice commands, identify objects in front of it, and perform corresponding actions. In the video, an engineer instructs the robot to “place the coffee cup on the table.” The robot not only completes the action but also provides status updates during execution, such as “I am walking toward the table” and “I will place the cup down.” This feedback system relies on OpenAI models’ deep understanding of command semantics and dynamic environmental perception capabilities. The Figure team noted that in the future, these robots will gradually develop short-term memory and situational judgment capabilities, enabling them not only to identify “where the table is” but also to determine “whether this is the table I’m looking for,” thereby significantly enhancing autonomy and safety.
Commercial deployment is entering the final countdown, with Figure robots potentially being first applied in the logistics sector.
As the technology matures, Figure AI is accelerating the commercial deployment of humanoid robots. The company revealed that its first batch of “Figure 01” products will be first applied in the warehousing and logistics sector, performing repetitive tasks such as handling, packing, and sorting that require a certain degree of flexibility. Currently, the company has partnered with several large logistics firms in the US for pilot programs to assess the robots’ stability and efficiency in real-world scenarios. Brett Adcock noted that the Figure robot’s greatest advantage lies in its ability to operate within existing facilities without requiring environmental reconfiguration or additional sensors. This “plug-and-play” deployment model significantly reduces corporate adoption costs and paves the way for the widespread adoption of humanoid robots.
AI capabilities accelerate breakthroughs in “generality,” and robots will go beyond repetitive labor
Under the deep empowerment of OpenAI, Figure robots are evolving into more general-purpose intelligent agents. In the past, humanoid robots were primarily defined as mechanical executors, limited by predefined tasks and fixed movements. However, Figure is attempting to break through these boundaries. It is reported that the version currently under testing can already learn new tasks by observing human demonstrations or listening to verbal descriptions, quickly imitating and independently completing them. For example, when an engineer demonstrated how to organize a bookshelf with their hands, the robot could reproduce the action sequence after just one observation and optimize the path and force in subsequent attempts. Figure’s research team believes that this “imitation learning + self-adjustment” mechanism is the key to achieving “human-like intelligence” and a significant milestone for AI robots to surpass traditional automated devices. As OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman stated, “Future robots should possess the ability to make optimal decisions in uncertain environments, rather than merely repeating the same actions.”
Multiple giants enter the market, and Figure AI builds an industry moat
The reason Figure AI has gained the favor of tech giants such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Nvidia in a short period is due to its foresight in technology integration, hardware design, and software stack construction. Currently, Figure has built a self-developed control system that covers key modules such as robot motion control, battery management, cloud inference, and data transmission. More importantly, it is building an open-source humanoid robot ecosystem, attracting developers to conduct secondary development of task packages and functional plugins around the Figure platform, thereby establishing a dual moat of technology and community. Microsoft Azure cloud platform provides computing power support for Figure, while NVIDIA designs a dedicated GPU acceleration module for it, enabling it to run AI models in real-time on the device. Through multi-party collaboration, Figure AI is gradually establishing its leading position in the “general-purpose robotics” sector.
Ethical and regulatory issues emerge, and OpenAI establishes safety mechanisms
As humanoid robots increasingly approach practical application, their ethical and safety issues have become a global focus. As a key driver of this collaboration, OpenAI has established a comprehensive set of usage guidelines and safety mechanisms to ensure that Figure robots are not misused in sensitive scenarios such as military, surveillance, or privacy infringement. Figure has also committed to integrating a “safety redundancy system” into its robots, including features such as behavior overreach alerts, visual obstruction detection, and physical contact avoidance, to ensure that no harm comes to humans during human-robot interaction. Additionally, the project is collaborating with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to explore the legal boundaries for humanoid robots operating in public spaces and plans to release a “Humanoid Robot Ethics White Paper” in the future to provide standards and guidance for industry development.
A new era is dawning, with humanoid robots poised to integrate into households across the nation.
From factories to homes, the application scenarios for humanoid robots are continuously expanding. The collaboration between Figure AI and OpenAI not only marks a significant large-scale engineering implementation of artificial intelligence technology but also offers a glimpse into a more intelligent, flexible, and safe “robot era” that is rapidly approaching. As costs decrease, algorithms evolve, and policies improve, humanoid robots may enter ordinary people’s daily lives within the next five years, assisting the elderly with daily care, helping hospitals transport supplies, serving as teaching assistants, and even handling household chores and simple cooking tasks. As the Figure AI team states on its official website: “We are not creating a machine, but a new species capable of accompanying, understanding, and serving humanity.”.
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