Humanoid robots working in factories may sound like a scene from a new science fiction movie. But in 2026, this is becoming a reality. German automaker BMW recently showed off a series of humanoid robots it received from Figure AI. These robots are already ready to work like humans.
In a video shared by BMW and Figure AI, four Figure 03 humanoid robots can be seen standing on the factory floor of the BMW factory in Spartanburg, USA. One of the robots moves forward, much like a human, grabs a trolley and pulls it back. The robot then picks up the various components from the unsorted containers, sorts them, and sorts them into trolleys.
When the work is complete, the Figure 03 robot returns to the charging station. According to Figure AI, all this is done without human control. Instead, the robot is powered by Helix 02, a unique system that coordinates its hands, arms, torso, and legs.
According to the company, this allows the Figure 03 robot to manipulate parts by stepping and repositioning its body, such as pulling a heavy cart on casters.
BMW announces robots will help produce 30,000 cars in 2025
This isn’t the first time BMW has used Figure AI’s robots. The automaker says the Figure 02 robot helped assemble around 30,000 BMW X3 cars in 10 months of 2025. Figure 02 The robot performed tasks with high speed and precision, such as inserting sheet metal parts for welding in an auto body shop.
According to Figure, the Figure 03 robot’s work goes beyond traditional pick-and-place sheet metal loading. Figure 03 allows you to toggle between precise picking and placement of thin-walled individual parts. The entire process also requires full-body coordination, including pulling a large metal trolley along a line.
The robotics startup added that a hard-coded set of fixed movements cannot reliably handle ordering because carts, bins, and parts don’t arrive in the exact same location every time, and items can move, rotate, be partially hidden, or appear differently within the container. This makes the process more complex than the task handled in Figure 02, as the robot must be able to identify different items that may be placed in different positions each time.
In case you were wondering, Figure AI is the same startup that made headlines a few weeks ago when it pitted Figure 03, the same robot currently used by BMW, against interns in an eight-hour “man vs. machine” contest to sort packages. The robotics startup also claims that it currently has more robots than human employees.
Several other companies are also developing humanoid robots. Elon Musk’s Tesla has been working on its Optimus robot for some time and is planning a commercial rollout in the near future, while Chinese companies like Unitree and Azibot are also making rapid progress.
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