Figure 03 humanoid robot
Ranked 3 of 3 humanoid robots by recommenders
Recommended as early proof humanoid robots can do real factory labor, after a BMW line trial and long livestreamed shifts. Critics call the demos stunts and doubt safety.
Recommended as early proof humanoid robots can do real factory labor, after a BMW line trial and long livestreamed shifts. Critics call the demos stunts and doubt safety.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 56%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Real work on BMW production line
“Figure 02 worked on BMW's actual Spartanburg production line for about 1,250 hours running 10-hour shifts.”
Comment from 5 Sep 2026 in “GPT-6 Astra” “it seems like the first proof that humanoid robots are actually capable of real labor”
Comment from 15 May 2026 in “Figure 03 robot work shift livestream [video]” “apparently successful feasibility trial of their humanoid robots with BMW”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Waymo Seeking About $16B Near $110B Valuation” - Comment from 16 May 2026 in “F.03 Livestream [video]”
Dishwashing and household cleaning demos
“The humanoid startup Figure showed their robot moving a few dishes from a nearly empty dishwasher to empty cabinets”
Comment from 29 May 2026 in “Bot Company allegedly trashing Airbnb rentals with their prototype robots” “Figure just put out like a nine hour video of it cleaning unseen homes”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “The AI Build-Out Is Becoming the Biggest Economic Bet in U.S. History” “They did the sitting livestream and the 30 house cleanup.”
Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “F.02 Decommission” - Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “AI lab offers free plumbing and HVAC repairs across three cities to train robots”
Large impact on labor and economy
“it's just incredibly hard to overestimate the impact humanoid robots are going to have on the global economy”
Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Why humanoid robots won't catch up to human workers any time soon” “This is truly remarkable and it raises a lot of questions about the future of labor”
Comment from 15 May 2026 in “Figure 03 robot work shift livestream [video]”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Safety risk to nearby humans
“one errant movement from these robots can decapitate or seriously injure a human”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “Robotics giant Figure AI demonstrates its robots to the world” “All of these are more than enough weight to kill a toddler by falling on them.”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Nvidia partners with LG robotics to build humanoid robots in South Korea” Clumsy and poor performance
“the current robots seem way too clumsy to even pick up an object”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “Show HN: We sent a humanoid robot to clean a stranger's apartment in SF” “Apparently those robots haven't worked very well”
Comment from 19 Jun 2026 in “Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics, Atlas humanoid to be used at vehicle plant by 2028” Demos are stunts for funding
“All they do is produce these sorts of stunts to gain VC money, with nothing real to show.”
Comment from 2 Oct 2026 in “F.02 Decommission” “EPIC FAIL in your marketing stunt!”
Comment from 2 Oct 2026 in “F.02 Decommission”
Other humanoid robots people recommend
The two most recommended other humanoid robots, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unitree robots | 11 | 3 | 79% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Nori Robotics humanoid robot | 10 | 5 | 67% | 1 | — | — |
| Figure 03 humanoid robotThis page | 9 | 7 | 56% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 18 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the stuff they can do is already incredible”
“it is brilliant because for only the cost of a few obsolete robots Figure has gotten many millions of dollars of advertisement”
“it's incredibly wasteful and useless”
“They did the sitting livestream and the 30 house cleanup.”
“EPIC FAIL in your marketing stunt!”
“All they do is produce these sorts of stunts to gain VC money, with nothing real to show.”
“Figure just put out like a nine hour video of it cleaning unseen homes”
“Figure 02 worked on BMW's actual Spartanburg production line for about 1,250 hours running 10-hour shifts.”
“it's just incredibly hard to overestimate the impact humanoid robots are going to have on the global economy”
“Apparently those robots haven't worked very well”
“All of these are more than enough weight to kill a toddler by falling on them.”
“The humanoid startup Figure showed their robot moving a few dishes from a nearly empty dishwasher to empty cabinets”
“one errant movement from these robots can decapitate or seriously injure a human”
“the current robots seem way too clumsy to even pick up an object”
“running a full 8-hr shift at human performance levels”
“This is truly remarkable and it raises a lot of questions about the future of labor”
“it seems like the first proof that humanoid robots are actually capable of real labor”
“apparently successful feasibility trial of their humanoid robots with BMW”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.