F.02 Decommission

Figure retired its F.02 humanoid robots because supporting that older fleet no longer made sense as F.03 units scale up. Dismantling each machine would have been time-consuming and risked exposing proprietary actuators, so the company pursued an alternative: destroy the units by melting them down. After soliciting options and receiving public encouragement from Arnold Schwarzenegger, Figure found a willing partner in a foundry in Imatra, Finland. Engineers trained a new AI policy in simulation - using stunt-artist motion references - so robots could autonomously jump from a second-story platform into a furnace bucket of molten steel.

The team faced extreme constraints at the foundry: a 75-ton electric arc furnace driven by three graphite electrodes, only 24 hours and six melt attempts, and roughly 20-minute windows before the metal crusted over. Cameras and some electronics failed in the intense heat and electromagnetic fields, yet the robots executed their learned policies reliably. The resulting ingots were shipped back and milled into a small run of commemorative artifacts; most F.02 units were destroyed and a handful remain in storage. The entire operation was filmed and presented as a documented demonstration of autonomous capability and a dramatic solution to hardware decommissioning.