The robots in question were designed by California robotics firm FigureAI and are described as being “general purpose”—meaning they can be used for any number of physical tasks.

The bipedal bot, called “Figure 01,” stands 5'6" tall, weighs 130 pounds, and has five-fingered hands that the company claims can be used to construct objects physically. The figure has a video of the robot making coffee on its YouTube channel. Another video shows the bot swiftly walking across a room using its two sturdy legs.

That said, it’s unclear what the bots will do in this case. The related press release discusses the “deployment of humanoid robots in an automotive manufacturing environment”. It claims the robots will focus on “difficult, unsafe, or tedious tasks,” which sounds vague and could apply to any job in BMW.

The press release further states that, as part of the deal's first phase, the two companies will work together to “identify initial use cases to apply the Figure robots in automotive production.”

Again, the wording here makes it sound both companies clueless about what the robots will do. After the two firms finally agree on what Figure 01 can do, some bots will be deployed to one of BMW’s manufacturing facilities in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Figure’s CEO Brett Adcock said: “Single-purpose robotics have saturated the commercial market for decades, but the potential of general-purpose robotics is untapped. Figure’s robots will enable companies to increase productivity, reduce costs, and create a safer and more consistent environment.”

This has, of course, sparked fears that robots will (eventually) take many human jobs. Figure’s CEO has claimed that his company is not interested in taking jobs away from people—which is what he would say.