These Robots Built BMWs, Then Hurled Themselves Into Molten Steel

The world of robotics is a strange one. If you want proof, consider that Figure AI, a startup formed in 2022 that builds humanoid robots and is already valued at $39 billion, asked the world how it should dispose of its now-obsolete F.02 models. (The car hook here, by the way, is that BMW supposedly employed at least one F.02 at its South Carolina plant.) Rather than dismantling them, Figure ended up honoring them with the full T-1000 send-off, flinging ’em into a vat of liquid metal.

Now look—there are a lot of weird and barely believable things in this world, especially today. When I first heard about this, I was extremely skeptical. But Figure claimed they really had these robots hurl themselves to a gooey, fiery death and, as you’ll see below, they have the receipts to prove it.

It started at the company’s San Jose HQ, where the fleet was trained on the choreography of stuntpeople, and subjected to repeated test falls, dives, and flips onto massive airbags. It was all architected with computer simulations. Figure said it ultimately found one foundry in Finland that was willing to let them pull this stunt, after all the ones they rang up in the U.S. and Mexico turned them away.

F.02 Decomission

“In an age of AI-generated footage, it’s worth being clear,” the company emphasized. “We really trained robots to jump autonomously, shipped them to Finland, and had them leap into a vat of molten steel. We hope you enjoy the film.” Watch the whole thing (also embedded above), and it’s no surprise who’s under the aluminized foundry gear.

Yeah, apparently this whole idea snowballed from a tweet Arnold made, and he journeyed up north to be a part of the moment. After short, hard lives toiling over German luxury automobiles, the robots’ molten remains have been repurposed into “limited-edition artifacts” that anyone can buy. Smaller-scale, $500 mementos are still available, by the way.

Figure says just a few F.02 units remain in storage. Let’s hope they stay there and never find out about what happened to their brethren, or else we’ll all have hell to pay.

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