Figure Inks Deal to Bring Robots to BMW Manufacturing

<p><strong><span class&equals;"legendSpanClass"><span class&equals;"xn-location">SUNNYVALE <&sol;span><&sol;span><&sol;strong>&&num;8212&semi; Figure&comma; a Silicon Valley company developing autonomous humanoid robots&comma; has signed a commercial agreement with BMW Manufacturing Co&period;&comma; LLC to deploy general purpose robots in automotive manufacturing environments&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Figure&&num;8217&semi;s humanoid robots enable the automation of difficult&comma; unsafe&comma; or tedious tasks throughout the manufacturing process&comma; which in turn allows employees to focus on skills and processes that cannot be automated&comma; as well as continuous improvement in production efficiency and safety&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Single-purpose robotics have saturated the commercial market for decades&comma; but the potential of general purpose robotics is completely untapped&period; Figure&&num;8217&semi;s robots will enable companies to increase productivity&comma; reduce costs&comma; and create a safer and more consistent environment&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said <span class&equals;"xn-person">Brett Adcock<&sol;span>&comma; Founder and CEO of Figure&period; &&num;8220&semi;We look forward to working side-by-side with BMW Manufacturing to integrate AI and robotics into automotive production&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Under the agreement&comma; BMW Manufacturing and Figure will pursue a milestone-based approach&period; In the first phase&comma; Figure will identify initial use cases to apply the Figure robots in automotive production&period; Once the first phase has been completed&comma; the Figure robots will begin staged deployment at BMW&&num;8217&semi;s manufacturing facility in <span class&equals;"xn-location">Spartanburg&comma; SC<&sol;span>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Beyond the deployment of humanoid robots in an automotive manufacturing environment&comma; BMW Manufacturing and Figure jointly will explore advanced technology topics such as artificial intelligence&comma; robot control&comma; manufacturing virtualization&comma; and robot integration&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The automotive industry&comma; and with it the production of vehicles&comma; is evolving rapidly&period; BMW Manufacturing is committed to integrating innovative technologies in our production systems to drive our future forward as an industry leader and innovator&period; The use of general purpose robot solutions has the potential to make productivity more efficient&comma; to support the growing demands of our consumers&comma; and to enable our team to focus on the transformation ahead of us&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Dr&period; <span class&equals;"xn-person">Robert Engelhorn<&sol;span>&comma; President and CEO of BMW Manufacturing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;