Figure AI’s Helix-02 Robots Complete Full 8-Hour Autonomous Shifts as Humanoid Race Intensifies

Figure AI demonstrated its humanoid robots operating fully autonomously for an 8-hour shift on May 13, 2026, processing barcoded packages at human-equivalent speeds. The test, livestreamed by CEO Brett Adcock, showed robots detecting barcodes, picking packages, and reorienting them on conveyor belts—all from camera inputs without pre-programmed motions. The company claims the robots now match human performance, averaging three seconds per package. The demonstration relied on Figure’s Helix-02 AI system, unveiled in February 2025, which operates entirely onboard with no cloud connection. The system uses a two-layer architecture: System 2 (S2) handles scene understanding and goal sequencing at 7–9 Hz, while System 1 (S1) translates commands into real-time joint movements at 200 Hz. Both layers run on embedded GPUs, controlling all 35 degrees of freedom across multiple robots with a single neural network. Helix-02 was trained on 500 hours of teleoperated demonstrations, enabling tasks like opening refrigerators or handing objects between robots without task-specific fine-tuning. The May 13 test extended a previous 1-hour grocery-sorting demo to logistics, including handling rigid boxes and deformable bags. Improvements like stereo vision and a ‘sport mode’ for faster execution were highlighted, with the team noting that just 8 hours of curated data produced a flexible policy. The latest iteration, Helix-02, adds legs to the robots and reduces their size from 109,000 liters to a more compact form factor. Figure AI’s progress underscores the accelerating pace of humanoid robotics in industrial automation, with potential implications for warehouse and manufacturing sectors.