A humanoid robot that once learned how to make coffee simply by watching a human can now do much more — including holding conversations powered by artificial intelligence.
In a newly released promotional video, the robot, known as Figure 01, is seen in a minimalist, kitchen-like testing environment. A technician asks it to complete simple tasks. When asked for something to eat, Figure 01 hands over an apple. When asked why it chose the apple — all while picking up trash — the robot responds in a robotic yet friendly voice, showing off its ability to talk, reason, and act in real time.
AI Meets Robotics in the Kitchen:
According to the company, Figure 01’s conversational ability comes from integration with technology developed by OpenAI, the team behind ChatGPT. Although the robot’s speech includes humanlike pauses such as “um” and repeated words like “I,” which ChatGPT doesn’t typically use, the system still appears impressively natural.
This points to breakthroughs in two crucial fields of robotics:
-1. Mechanical Engineering:Figure 01 demonstrates dexterous, self-correcting movements. Its actuators, motors, and grippers are designed to mimic human joints and muscles, enabling it to manipulate objects delicately — even something as simple as lifting a cup requires complex, on-board processing to orient movements with precision.
-2. Natural Language Processing (NLP): By integrating OpenAI’s engine, the robot can engage in real-time conversations. NLP allows machines to process, understand, and generate speech instantly, while software converts that data into humanlike audio output.
A Step Toward Humanlike Interaction:
If the video is genuine, Figure 01 represents a major leap in humanoid robotics. It shows how far neural networks and natural language models have advanced in creating humanlike cadence, speech patterns, and reasoning abilities.
Still, skepticism remains. Observers note that at timestamps 0:52 and 1:49 in the video, Figure 01 uses fillers such as “uh” and repeats words, similar to how humans hesitate before speaking. Such natural imperfections raise questions: Could this really be live AI speech, or is it pre-recorded to demonstrate potential features?
Regardless, if everything shown is indeed happening in real time, this demo signals a future where humanoid robots might not only serve food and clean up dishes, but also carry on fluid conversations with humans — blending physical dexterity with AI-driven intelligence.
