- Figure 02, already being tested in BMW plants, can now autonomously fold towels.
- This is a significant breakthrough for "Physical AI," which deals with robots interacting with the unpredictable real world.
- Manipulating soft, deformable objects like towels is a major robotics challenge.
- The robot demonstrated real intelligence by adapting its grip and self-correcting errors, not just following a script.
Figure AI's humanoid robot, Figure 02, is already getting its hands dirty in the real world, with a fleet of robots being tested in BMW's manufacturing plants. But a recent demonstration shows it’s also mastering tasks closer to home, and in doing so, tackling one of the toughest challenges in robotics. The task? Neatly folding a towel.
This might sound simple, but for a robot, it's a monumental feat of what's called "Physical AI"—the science of getting AI to interact with the messy, unpredictable physical world. It's one thing for a robot to handle a solid, rigid object like a car part, which always has the same shape. It's another thing entirely to handle a soft, floppy towel.
Think about it: a towel can be in a million different crumpled states. It has no fixed geometry, it bends unpredictably, and it's easy to grab a bunch or miss a corner. The video shows Figure 02 starting with a messy towel, intelligently finding the edges, and even making corrective actions when its grip isn't quite right. This isn't just a pre-programmed sequence; the robot is observing, adapting, and problem-solving in real-time. By mastering the deceptively complex art of folding laundry, Figure 02 is proving it can handle the chaos of the real world, one towel at a time.
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