Roughly two years after BMW first put humanoid robots to work at its US plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, a newer version has clocked in. The machines come from American firm Figure, and the resemblance to a person runs deeper than anything Tesla has managed with Optimus. This one looks less like a prototype in costume and more like something built to share a floor with workers.

 

The new robot, known as the Figure 03, will play an important role in the plant’s logistics operations. Components arriving at the site currently land in large containers and are unsorted. It will now be the task of these robots to pick up each part and sort them into a sequencing trolley.