The humanoid robot market is sizzling, and competitors are pushing to get their products perfected.

Figure, a Sunnyvale, California-based AI robotics company, just rolled out its latest machine: Figure 02. Let's not say rolled out, though. Figure's 02 strolled confidently onto the buzzy android scene on its own two legs. Reengineered and redesigned from top to bottom, 02 is a big advance over the company's already sci-fi-like 01 model, and could hit factory floors by 2026. It seems Figure knew exactly what to do with the $675 million it received in February--funding that came from high tech names like Microsoft, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos himself. In a press release shared with Inc., Figure says that 02 is the "highest performing humanoid robot" on the market. The company claims that 02 incorporates advances across the robot's entire design, "including AI, computer vision, batteries, electronics, sensors, and actuators." Figure's version 01 robot was already capable of impressively human-like chatting, and subtle movements like loading capsules into a coffee maker, as shown in a previous video. Part of the smart stuff inside 02 is its use of "Vision Language Model," or VLM. You may know that the current crop of cutting-edge AI chatbots rely on core technologies called Large Language Models, or LLMs, which are all about understanding human words. In comparison, Figure 02's AI vision system is all about enabling "fast common-sense visual reasoning from robot cameras." Robots currently in use in factories or warehouses are usually only capable of moving from point to point and picking up precisely oriented objects from exact positions. But the real world is never that precise. In the 02 promotional video, the robot moves metal pieces around a factory floor, placing them into manufacturing jigs. When one piece doesn't quite fall into place, the robot gives it a nudge with a finger in exactly the sort of common-sense way a human would. Part of this dexterity comes from its human-like hands, which Figure says have very "human-like strength." The 02 model also has three times the computer power on board compared to the 01 robots, so it can better work autonomously. Figure's website explains why robots like 02 are human shaped: it's to fit into our world, where doors, tools, stairs and other physical pieces of the environment are shaped for human bodies. Also, people are moving around all the time--something robot coworkers have to deal with. Figure's vice president of Growth, Lee Randaccio, explained in an email to Inc. that "people are dynamic, so making sure robots can seamlessly adapt to environments and make the same decisions as humans/complete tasks in entirety is the hardest part of the tech." The addition of speech-to-speech powers, via AI models trained in partnership with OpenAI essentially makes 02 smarter than the first version. The new model can talk to humans better, see better (it's equipped with six cameras, compared to our two eyeballs), has better power systems, senses its environment more precisely, and move its limbs better. The press release says the company's wants machines like 02 performing a "wide range of tasks across commercial applications." Randaccio confirmed Figure's busy "continuing to test and iterate" its hardware and software to "prepare for deployment." Figure has been working with BMW Manufacturing to see how its robots actually perform in the harsh environment of an industrial workplace, and Randaccio said this has recently included 02, which performed "AI data collection and use case training." Meanwhile, the company is not just not just setting its sights on having robot workers on factory floors, where they can work in dangerous zones that are risky for humans: "in the near future," the press release says, you may have a 02 working "at home." If all this sounds familiar, it's because several companies are competing in the humanoid robotics space, including well-known robot maker Boston Dynamics. But Figure 02's most direct rival is Tesla's Optimus machine. Elon Musk has said he's confident that Optimus is actually Tesla's future, that the machines may cost just $20,000 and that they'll be tested in its facilities in 2025. But Optimus's competition definitely includes 02. Though Figure says it currently doens't have a number to share for pricing, CNBC says price estimates for robots in this class range from $30,000 to $150,000. And Randaccio said that 2026 is when Figure expects to see "many robots operational in customer sites." By Kit Eaton @kiteaton