A couple of months ago we talked about the new version of the Atlas robot, and we were impressed with its ability. However, the factories of the future are not interested in a robot with demonic movements and enthusiasm for parkour, but in a design that adapts without difficulty to their infrastructure. The Figure 02 points in that direction, and its creators signed a special agreement with BMW to conduct a trial in one of its plants...
Let's not fool ourselves: we have been using robots to manufacture things for decades. But there is something about the "humanoid robot" that forces us to look more than once. Perhaps it is the famous "Uncanny Valley", the extraordinary complexity required to imitate the human body... or the idea that we will become obsolete. The The Figure 02 only reinforces all these feelings, and thanks to an agreement between its manufacturer Figure AI and BMW's plant in Spartanburg (South Carolina), the robot deployed its skills in a real work environment for two weeks.
Figure 02: "Please, Mr. Robot, don't take my job"
The specifications of the Figure 02 are quite clear: 167.6 centimeters tall, weighing 70 kilograms, and it moves a maximum load of 20 kilograms. Its system is electric, it moves at a speed of 1.2 meters per second, and thanks to its new battery, it runs for five hours without recharging. Obviously, the robot is full of artificial intelligence, with a "visual language model" fed by six RGB cameras, and what Figure AI calls "speech-to-speech reasoning". In other words, the robot can maintain a limited conversation with humans, understand direct orders, and explain its recent actions. OpenAI is part of all this, and the second video shows us the first generation, Figure 01, in a demo of that "reasoning".
Through its official page, the BMW Group plant in Spartanburg explains that the Figure 02 tests concluded successfully, inserting metal pieces in specific positions that were then integrated as part of a chassis. Now, those responsible for developing and applying this technology assure that it will not eliminate jobs, but rather robots will take care of repetitive and physically risky actions, freeing up their "associates" to focus on more critical and creative tasks.
If we consider that the robot can work 24/7/365, does not need vacations, does not eat, does not drink, does not sleep, does not get sick, does not require vacations, does not unionize, does not argue with his wife at home, does not have to send the kids to school, and does not receive a salary, well... "Press X to Doubt".
Official site: Click here
Official BMW Group announcement: Click here
