BMW & US Startup Figure Announce Agreement to Bring Humanoids Into Auto Production

BMW Manufacturing  and Figure, a US startup developing autonomous humanoid robots, have signed a commercial agreement to deploy general purpose robots in automotive manufacturing environments. Figure's humanoid robots enable the automation of difficult, unsafe, or tedious tasks throughout the manufacturing process.

In the first phase, Figure will identify initial use cases to apply the Figure robots in automotive production.

Om completion, the Figure robots will begin staged deployment at BMW's manufacturing facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Dr. Robert Engelhorn, President and CEO of BMW Manufacturing, says: "The automotive industry, and with it the production of vehicles, is evolving rapidly. BMW Manufacturing is committed to integrating innovative technologies in our production systems to drive our future forward as an industry leader and innovator. The use of general purpose robot solutions has the potential to make productivity more efficient, to support the growing demands of our consumers, and to enable our team to focus on the transformation ahead of us."

Brett Adcock, Founder and CEO of Figure, adds: "Single-purpose robotics have saturated the commercial market for decades, but the potential of general purpose robotics is completely untapped. Figure's robots will enable companies to increase productivity, reduce costs, and create a safer and more consistent environment. We look forward to working side-by-side with BMW Manufacturing to integrate AI and robotics into automotive production."

Figure is an AI Robotics company developing autonomous general purpose humanoid robots