BMW Group has started deploying Figure AI's Figure 03 humanoid robot at its Spartanburg plant, shifting the program from body shop trials into logistics sequencing work. The new assignment follows a ten-month pilot with the predecessor model, Figure 02, that contributed to the production of more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles.
In the new use case, Figure 03 will receive components arriving unsorted in large containers, pick them up, and sort them into a sequencing trolley. An automated tugger train or Smart Transport Robot then carries the trolley to a defined collection point, where parts are delivered to assembly workers in the correct build sequence. Sequencing recurs frequently in automotive logistics and represents a more complex operation than the repetitive sheet-metal loading work Figure 02 performed in the body shop.
What's new here is the hardware upgrade. Figure 03 adds soft components designed for improved safety in proximity to workers, wireless charging for higher uptime, audio functions for speech-to-speech communication, and redesigned hands fitted with tactile sensors and palm cameras for greater precision and dexterity. Figure 02 handled a narrower task: placing sheet-metal parts within a 5-millimeter tolerance in 2 seconds per cycle, a job it ran for more than 1,250 hours over ten months while loading more than 90,000 parts.
"Our 11-month deployment of Figure 02 proved that humanoids are no longer lab experiments," said Brett Adcock, Founder and CEO of Figure AI. The Figure 03 work will take place in Hall 52, where BMW currently assembles variants of the X3 and plans to add production of the electrified BMW iX5. The hall has been expanded with virtual 3D simulation tools and AIQX, BMW's AI-based visual and acoustic quality inspection system.
BMW Group is also running parallel Physical AI programs beyond Spartanburg. A pilot at BMW Group Plant Leipzig, conducted with Hexagon Robotics and its AEON humanoid robot, is targeting high-voltage battery assembly and component manufacturing, with a full pilot phase scheduled for summer 2026.
