Figure will start ‘alpha testing’ its humanoid robot in the home in 2025 | TechCrunch

Figure is planning to bring its humanoids into the home sooner than expected. CEO Brett Adcock confirmed on Thursday that the Bay Area robotics startup will begin “alpha testing” its Figure 02 robot in the home setting later in 2025. The executive says the accelerated timeline is a product of the company’s “generalist” Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model, called Helix.

Adcock’s comments arrive one week after Figure announced the machine learning platform. Helix is designed to process both visual data and natural language input to accelerate the speed with which the system can pick up new tasks. Earlier this month, Figure revealed that it was breaking off its highly publicized partnership with OpenAI in favor of its own proprietary AI models like Helix.

We’ve known for some time now that the home is on Figure’s roadmap. On a recent trip to the company’s South Bay offices, Adcock showed TechCrunch some very early home testing in a lab setting. Last week’s Helix announcement shed more light on those plans, with videos of robots performing various household tasks, including food preparation. Helix is designed to specifically orchestrate two robots working on a single task in tandem.

Like most of the competition and many rebellious teenagers, however, Figure has deprioritized housework. Instead, firms have targeted more lucrative industrial deployment. In early 2024, the company revealed that it was piloting its humanoid systems at a BMW plant in South Carolina. Factories and warehouses are regarded as a first logical step for both trials and deployment. They’re more structured and safer than the home, and automakers like BMW are happy to set aside money for testing.

Other humanoid robotics firms like Apptronik and Tesla have expressed their own interest in bringing these systems into the home. Along with a range of household tasks, robots have long been viewed as a way to address aging populations in countries like Japan and the U.S. The assistance provided by these systems could help older people continue to live independently outside of care facilities.

Norwegian startup 1X is one of a very small number of companies that have prioritized the home. It’s a difficult path. In addition to pricing questions, homes vary a good deal from one to the next. People leave messes, and homes have uneven lighting, various floor surfaces, stairs, and often pets and small humans running around.

Figure’s 2025 plans for the home aren’t entirely clear, but “alpha” certainly implies that home testing will remain in the very early stages for the remainder of the year.