Emma Li

Figure 01 stands at the forefront of innovation, showcasing a level of sophistication unseen in previous humanoids. Leveraging stored information, Figure 01 makes inferences rapidly, similar to OpenAI’s GPT-3 and GPT-4, and can also express its thoughts through a text-to-speech model.

“Hey Figure 01, what do you see right now?”

“I see a red apple on a plate in the center of the table, a drying rack with cups and a plate and you standing nearby with your hand on the table.”

Visual processing and answering image-based questions are only some of the many features of Figure 01, robotics firm Figure’s and artificial intelligence organization OpenAI’s newest robot. Trained with text-to-speech models from ChatGPT, Figure 01 is the first autonomous humanoid that holds advanced speech abilities and engages in real-time conversation with humans.

Figure 01 stands at the forefront of innovation, showcasing a level of sophistication unseen in previous humanoids. It incorporates a Vision-Language Model (VLM), an advanced AI application capable of processing both text and images, and its cameras are equipped with highly precise image calibrations. 

“These robots just take in whatever we are teaching them through machine learning algorithms,” computer science teacher Swati Mittal said. “We give them so much information. The data is the key for them: they’re learning through the data, and once they have enough data to process themselves, they start learning by themselves as well.”

Figure 01 speaks in a natural, human-like manner and articulates its thought process through a text-to-speech model. Leveraging stored information, Figure 01 makes inferences rapidly, similar to OpenAI’s GPT-3 and GPT-4.

Many people have even pointed out that Figure 01 occasionally stutters and uses filler words like “uh” and “um.” On the OpenAI Developer Forum, a site where users can ask questions and communicate with other developers, some people claim that these filler words make the robot’s speech appear staged, while others believe that it reinforces Figure 01’s human-like qualities.

Clad in silver, weighing 60 kilograms and standing at a height of 5 feet and 6 inches, Figure 01 is designed to replicate the physical characteristics of a human, like a fully functional replica of a human hand with five fingers and moveable joints. This design choice is based on Figure’s belief that “the potential of our future lies in the human form.”

Figure’s primary hope for its technology is to address the shrinking labor force. By utilizing a robot that closely resembles a person, the company aims to potentially reduce the time that humans spend on tedious tasks in the workforce. Programming Club president Joe Li (12) predicts that Figure 01 will fulfill the company’s goals, but that it will also bring negative impacts, like job layoffs, once implemented.

“With artificial general intelligence, there are a lot of positive impacts like benefitting labor shortages in areas like nursing,” Joe said. “During COVID, there was a shortage of nurses and doctors. Figure 01 addresses the need for these human workers and can replace them with the robot. On the other hand, though, it’s going to take away a lot of jobs. That’s unfortunate, but as technology develops, it’s just something that’s inevitably going to happen.”

Figure further showcased Figure 01’s complex abilities in a demonstration posted on X on March 13. After the demonstrator said that he wanted something to eat, the robot identified an apple as an edible item among other items on the table, like dishes, cups and a drying rack. It went even further and placed the apple in the demonstrator’s hand and explained its reasoning: “I gave you the apple because it’s the only, uh, edible item I could provide you with from the table.”

Despite its fairly recent start in 2022, Figure has attracted substantial interest from investors like Nvidia and Microsoft. Figure 01 has even partnered with BMW Manufacturing to integrate its robots into the difficult, dangerous aspects of the car manufacturing process like inside the warehouse or body shop.

However, many people doubt that Figure 01 will be a viable product due to its concerningly rapid development in AI and robotic systems. Robotics team member Arturo Vilalta (10) argues that the full extent of Figure 01’s impact is yet to be determined.

“Figure builds upon decades of work in robotic dexterity, computer vision and spatial mapping, but it’s hard to tell if there is anything truly groundbreaking with their work,” Arturo said. “It’s hard to say from the little information available what’s most impressive about the bot because we don’t know much about the technology they are using behind the scenes.”