Weight: 70 kilogrammes. Height: approx. 170 cm. Load capacity: 20 kilogrammes – the Figure 02 is the latest humanoid robot from the California-based company Figure and is currently being tested successfully at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg in South Carolina, US, in a real production environment.

It’s the first time the BMW Group has used humanoid robots in production, and trials have been based on the Figure 02 robot by the Californian company Figure.

Milan Nedeljković, Board Member for Production with BMW AG: “With an early test operation, we are now determining possible applications for humanoid robots in production. We want to accompany this technology from development to industrialisation.”

Brett Adcock, founder and CEO of Figure, added: “The Figure 02 is the most advanced humanoid robot in the world to reach the market so far. Recently it has been used successfully to place sheet metal parts into special fixtures. Downstream in the process, the components are assembled to form part of the body. During testing, the robot demonstrated particular tactile capabilities.”

Compared with its predecessor, the latest robot offers a threefold increase in computing power and improved voice communication. Incorporating sophisticated cameras, microphones and sensors, it is also equipped with a more powerful battery. The hands of the fourth-generation model are the size of an average human hand and offer 16 active degrees of freedom per hand, coming remarkably close to the strength of a human.

The robot can perform fully autonomously a variety of human-like tasks that require precision and dynamic manipulations, complex gripping and two-handed coordination. It can position a range of tricky components accurately to the millimetre and move flexibly while making the most of the efficiency of its design.

The Figure 02 supports plant employees performing ergonomically awkward and exhausting tasks to take the strain off them. The safety of humanoid robots in automotive production is under constant assessment.

The BMW iFACTORY is the BMW Group’s vision of future production and a constant testbed for new technologies, with a focus on efficiency, digitalisation and sustainability. Trial operations with humanoids have provided valuable insights into requirements around how multi-purpose robots can be successfully integrated into existing production systems. One such aspect is how they can communicate with the system during practical operations, for example. With the first trials in automotive production now over, the experts from Figure and the BMW Group are working through their findings to support future production applications and the continued enhancements of the robots.