TL;DR
DEEP DIVE #1
Launch of Figure 03 humanoid with improved sensors, safety, manufacturability
Figure AI revealed Figure 03, its third generation humanoid designed for large scale use in homes. The announcement centers on new sensing, softer materials for safety, improved hands, and moves toward manufacturing at scale for home use.
Figure 03 is purpose-built for Helix, Figure’s vision-language-action AI. The company says the robot has faster, lower-latency cameras, tactile finger sensors, safer batteries, wireless charging, washable soft coverings, and is engineered for mass production.
The company web page and the official Figure X post show kitchen demos, specs (height, payload, run time), and a promotional video of the robot folding laundry and loading a dishwasher. Time added the robot to its Best Inventions mention for 2025. See the Figure 03 launch announcement and Figure AI official X post.
Can Figure truly ship a safer, manufacturable humanoid that handles daily chores? Their latest massive funding round should accelerate their efforts to bring general-purpose humanoid robots into real-world environments at scale. But, the risk is obvious. Demos are controlled and slow. Safety in real homes, cost, real-world robustness, and privacy remain unresolved. Early customers will pay a premium for staged capability, not full autonomy.
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DEEP DIVE #2
Launch of DR02 all-weather humanoid with IP66 rating, for outdoor and industrial use
DEEP Robotics unveiled DR02, a full-size humanoid pitched as the first industrial-grade, all-weather humanoid with IP66 protection for dust and water. The company has claimed a wide operating temperature range of -20°C to 55°C, calling it an "all-weather, all-time, all-scenario" humanoid robot.
DEEP Robotics unveiled DR02, a full-size humanoid pitched as the first industrial-grade, all-weather humanoid with IP66 protection for dust and water. See DEEP Robotics official launch post.
If DR02 actually survives rain, dust, and factory floors, it addresses a big limit of lab humanoids that are fragile and constrained. That opens new use cases like outdoor inspection, rescue, and continuous patrol. The risk is that IP66 for a complex, moving machine does not guarantee long term reliability. Dust and water ingress, maintenance costs, and real operating uptime will tell the real story.
DR02 humanoid in the rain
IN FOCUS
Embracing Evolution - A Call for Body-Control Co-Design
A position paper argues that progress in humanoid robots will stall if teams only tweak control software while keeping bodies fixed. The authors call for a combined, iterative approach that evolves both the physical body and the control software together.
The core message is simple. Design bodies and brains together. That includes using simulation plus targeted real hardware changes to find shapes and joint layouts that make control simpler, safer, and more efficient. The paper suggests concrete methods like Sim2Real transfer and meta learning as tools to bridge simulation and hardware.
Read the full paper here.
We position co-design as a foundational approach for developing intelligent, adaptable, and general-purpose humanoid robots capable of thriving in complex real-world environments.
INDUSTRY WATCH
AgiBot plans IPO in Hong Kong, targeting multibillion valuation
AgiBot, a leading Chinese humanoid firm backed by large investors like Tencent and HongShan Capital Group, is reported to be preparing for a Hong Kong initial public offering aimed at a valuation in the tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars. This move signals that investors still see big market potential in humanoids. The IPO will bring scrutiny, and it will test whether investor enthusiasm matches product maturity.
Humanoid robot against dark background
Editor’s Take
This week shows the split in humanoid robotics. On one side, companies are sprinting to prove they can make real machines that work at scale, with Figure promising a home-ready machine and DEEP Robotics targeting real-world weather. On the other side, researchers remind us that the physical form matters as much as the software that drives it. The money news from AgiBot says investors still believe in the dream. My read is blunt. We are running more demos and raising more cash than we are shipping durable, low-cost robots people can rely on every day. That gap is the real story to watch.
▶ Coming Soon: Noetix N2 humanoid walks runway at Paris Fashion Week
