Figure 01’s early demonstrations brought language interaction and physical robot actions into the same discussion. This is a historical explainer about the 2024 announcements and the original videos, rather than an independent robot test or a statement that an old collaboration remains current.
What the collaboration announcement established
In its 29 February 2024 announcement, Figure said it had entered an agreement with OpenAI to develop AI models for humanoid robots. It described a goal of improving robots’ ability to process and reason from language. A development agreement establishes an intention to work together; it does not establish that a general-purpose household robot was ready for sale.
Keep the demonstrations separate
Figure’s own video archive lists “AI Trained Coffee Demo” and “OpenAI Speech-to-Speech Reasoning” as separate demonstrations. The original article blurred those examples and made an unsupported claim about selecting the ripest apple. That ripeness claim is removed; this update does not infer a measured capability from the video selection.
What to look for in a robot demonstration
To assess a demonstration, ask what task was requested, what environment was prepared, how the actions were controlled and what failures were disclosed. A successful sequence does not tell you a system’s success rate across unfamiliar objects or situations. Speech, visual recognition and physical control each need evidence; fluent speech alone does not establish reliable manipulation.
The four original video embeds are retained below. Their presence is not a claim that every clip is a separate independent test, or that the demonstrations establish commercial reliability. This article reports no measured accuracy, safety rating or readiness for unsupervised use.
Original company references: OpenAI and Figure.
