Figure AI The world of robotics is a strange one. If you want proof, consider that Figure AI, a startup formed in 2022 that builds humanoid robots and is already valued at $39 billion, asked the world how it should dispose of its now-obsolete F.02 models. (The car hook here, by the way, is that BMW supposedly employed at least one F.02 at its South Carolina plant.) Rather than dismantling them, Figure ended up honoring them with the full T-1000 send-off, flinging ’em into a vat of molten steel. Now look—there are a lot of weird and barely believable things in this world, especially today. When I first heard about this, I was extremely skeptical. But Figure claims they really had these robots hurl themselves to a gooey, fiery death. They explain in a blog that before making the long trip up north, the fleet was trained on the choreography of stuntpeople, and subjected to repeated test falls involving massive airbags. It was all architected with computer simulations. Figure said it ultimately found one foundry in Finland that was willing to let them pull this stunt, after all the ones they rang up in the U.S. and Mexico turned them away. “In an age of AI-generated footage, it’s worth being clear,” the company said. “We really trained robots to jump autonomously, shipped them to Finland, and had them leap into a vat of molten steel. We hope you enjoy the film.” Watch the whole thing (also embedded below), and you won’t be surprised who’s under the aluminized foundry gear. Well, I suppose the thumbnail gives it away. Yeah, apparently this whole idea came out of Arnold’s head, and he made the journey to Finland to be a part of the moment. After short, hard lives toiling over German luxury automobiles, the robots’ remnants have been repurposed into “limited-edition artifacts” that anyone can buy. Smaller-scale, $500 mementos are still available, by the way. Figure says just a few F.02 units remain in storage. Let’s hope they stay there and never find out about what happened to their brethren, or else we’ll all have hell to pay.
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