Figure Makes F.02 Robot Jump into Molten Steel for Retirement
Figure AI transported the retired F.02 humanoid robot to the Imatra foundry in Finland, training it to autonomously jump into a 75-ton electric arc furnace to destroy custom actuators and other intellectual property.
CEO Brett Adcock first solicited handling methods online due to insufficient headquarters space and the disassembly slowing down F.04. The vote for "blow it up" received 46.3%, with Arnold Schwarzenegger responding, "It should be melted down," leading to a collaboration on a video. The U.S.-Mexico foundry refused to allow the lithium battery robot to jump into the equipment, and the team sought help from former MythBusters, ultimately only Imatra accepted the order.
Training took place at the San Jose campus: jumping on an airbag on the second floor, using stunt performer movements as references, and then training a new model in simulation to enable the robot to accurately jump into the molten steel bucket at a foundry it had never visited. Three graphite electrodes melted scrap steel on-site, with the team having only 24 hours and six furnace opportunities, each furnace taking about 20 minutes before the surface solidified. The company stated that high temperatures and strong electromagnetic fields caused camera equipment to malfunction, while the robot's control strategy was still operational. Officials emphasized that the footage was not generated video, and the jump was completed autonomously.
The F.02 had previously been deployed at BMW's Spartanburg plant: 11 months of deployment, sheet metal loading, contributing over 30,000 X3s, running over 1,250 hours, and assembling over 90,000 parts. With the expansion of F.03, maintaining F.02 was deemed unprofitable. The melted metal will be returned to the U.S. to be made into limited edition souvenirs for sale; most F.02 units will be scrapped, with a few remaining in the headquarters warehouse. While some spectators cheered, others found the scene unsettling and questioned why disassembly for reuse was not considered.
In market mechanisms, the seller is the humanoid robot company clearing inventory and protecting patents, while the buyer is the audience interested in retired blockbuster films and limited metal pieces. The event was driven by generational change and confidentiality, not new orders. Funds will flow back to the brand from marketing budgets and souvenir sales; beneficiaries include F.03/F.04 attention, while hardware recycling narratives are under pressure, and whether turning scrapping into a film excessively consumes trust is questioned.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Brett Adcock turned the generational handling into a "Terminator 2" molten steel farewell, essentially a combination of intellectual property destruction and recruitment advertising. The F.02 has already proven capable of working on BMW's production line, and disassembly could have recovered actuators; the company's choice to melt it down was due to the low cost of imitation if custom parts were released, compared to retraining Helix. Arnold's comment overshadowed the "blow it up" vote, indicating that celebrity scenarios can influence project decisions more than engineering optimal solutions.
The capital path involves filming the scrapping and selling steel ingots as merchandise. The motivation is not metal recycling, but rather to clear F.02 from the asset sheet to free up engineering hours for F.04. Resource mobilization spans San Jose simulations, Finnish electric arc furnaces, and Shopify limited stores, with 24 hours and six furnaces aimed at capturing an irreplicable shot. Money is exchanged from content dissemination for valuation narratives, while hardware residual value is actively reduced to zero.
Analogies include Apple’s recycling day where old devices are disassembled live, SpaceX exploding rockets for testing, and Boston Dynamics turning old robots into viral videos. Figure is in a control action during its expansion phase: production line robots need confidentiality, while the consumer side requires a personalized farewell. Historical parallels include Kodak destroying inventory to protect film mythology and Tesla smashing early Roadster prototypes—destruction itself becomes the next generation's IPO roadshow.
Structural judgment belongs to technological replacement. The mechanism is that when the new generation of software stacks and shapes has already covered the tasks of old machines, the maximum remaining value of the old machines becomes "stories that cannot be disassembled." Melting down simultaneously accomplishes three things: physically eliminating blueprint-level parts, symbolically binding to the Terminator icon, and commercially reselling scrap steel as collectibles. The next generation must win not by jumping better, but by convincing customers that the old generation has completely disappeared from the world.
ABAB News · Law of Cognition
Destruction is sometimes more valuable than recycling.
A celebrity's line can change engineering plans.
The greatest cost of generational change is the old machines still being alive.