Humanoid Robots Successfully Deployed In BMW X3 Production Line Pilot Project

The robots worked tirelessly, accumulating 1,250 hours of run-time, Monday through Friday, for 10-hour shifts. During their deployment, they loaded over 90,000 parts and contributed to the production of more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles. The robots performed a classic pick-and-place task, loading sheet metal parts into a welding machine.

They picked parts from racks or bins and placed them on a welding fixture, where a traditional six-axis industrial robot then welded and fed the parts into the main line. The challenge lay in balancing speed and precision, placing parts within a 5-millimeter tolerance in just 2 seconds. To meet this goal, Figure engineers developed advanced hand-eye coordination algorithms and built field-calibration tools for consistent cross-robot performance. Although Figure AI did not share data on how well the humanoids performed in meeting those goals, the company did say the pilot project provided invaluable insights for improving the robot for its Figure 03 design.

The pilot project revealed that the robot’s forearm was the top hardware failure point, with tight packaging ← →