The humanoid robot jumped into the steel furnace

According to Interesting Engineering, Figure AI (USA) destroyed the old generation humanoid robot team Figure 02 by taking it to a foundry in Imatra, Finland and jumping into a 75-ton electric arc furnace to turn it into molten metal.

Previously, Figure 02 worked at BMW's Spartanburg factory. During 11 months of deployment, the robot operated more than 1,250 hours and assembled more than 90,000 parts. Figure AI said that maintaining the Figure 02 model was no longer profitable after they expanded production of the Figure 03 generation.

According to ABAB News, disassembling each machine is estimated to consume engineering time, while the company also needs to destroy proprietary hardware without exposing custom parts or intellectual property.

CEO Brett Adcock initially sought a solution to decide the fate of Figure 02 by organizing a survey on social networks. The "detonation" option attracted 46.3% of the votes. Meanwhile, actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed the idea of ​​melting robots.

However, facilities in the US and Mexico refused to melt due to concerns about the lithium-ion battery inside, but Figure AI found a foundry in Finland that accepted the job.

First, the engineer must teach Figure 02 how to perform the jump. They installed large airbags at their San Jose headquarters to train robots to jump from two-story buildings. They also mobilized stuntmen to model movements for the robot to learn. Then, the engineering team developed a control model in a simulation environment, guiding the robot to jump to the exact location in the unfamiliar foundry. Figure AI never tested the robots inside the foundry in Finland before shipping them there.

The foundry's electric arc furnace uses three large graphite electrodes to melt steel scrap. Figure AI only has 6 melting cycles within 24 hours. Each cycle lasts 20 minutes before the molten steel cools enough to form a solid crust. The environment around the furnace emits extremely high thermal radiation and electromagnetic fields so strong that they disable conventional electronics. Despite the cameras and surrounding electronics being damaged, the robots continued to accurately execute the pre-trained motion algorithm.

After the robot team disappeared in the furnace, Figure AI transported the collected metal bars to the US and will process them into limited quantities of memorabilia to preserve the material from the decommissioned robot in a more compact form. Most of Figure 02 has now been destroyed, with only a few remaining stored at the company headquarters.

Figure AI introduces the Figure 03 robot in October 2025. The robot features a redesigned sensor and hand system to accommodate Helix, the company's proprietary vision-language-action system. Figure 03, which appeared in November of the same year, was adapted for home use, such as softer exterior materials, wireless charging, an improved sound system and a battery pack that is safer for use around humans.