Figure 01's Helix Robot: Redefining Humanoid Robotics with Real AI Execution
- Caroline Peters
- May 20
- 2 min read
Humanoid robots are no longer science fiction—they’re real, functional, and beginning to impact the future of work. Figure 01’s Helix robot is the latest breakthrough in humanoid robotics, showcasing a seamless blend of artificial intelligence, robotics automation, and vision-language-action capabilities.
Unlike previous humanoid demos, such as Tesla’s Optimus, which relied on behind-the-scenes human teleoperation, Helix is built on proven AI execution. The company released detailed findings and data, making the demo not only transparent but repeatable—building public trust in real-world AI deployment.
🤖 A Break from the Past:
What makes Helix truly revolutionary is its in-house developed vision-language-action model (VLA), which allowed Figure 01 to pivot away from reliance on OpenAI. With a VLA, robots don’t just recognize commands—they understand context and perform physical tasks based on visual input.
How it Works:
The Helix system integrates two powerful neural networks:
S2, the “brain,” processes visual data and body positioning via a vision-language model (VLM).
S1, the “muscle,” handles fine motor skills using real-time sensor data and transformer-based models to carry out actions like grabbing or placing objects.
This AI-powered robotic system can adapt to new environments and interact with unknown objects, something previous robots struggled with. In a demo, the Helix robot placed a ketchup bottle it had never seen before into a fridge, reasoning its shape and similarity to other known objects. This is generalized intelligence in robotics, no longer reliant on perfect inputs.
🧠 The Power of Real-World Learning:
Figure 01 trained Helix using over 500 hours of teleoperated data, mapping natural language prompts to physical actions. Using AI-generated prompts also sped up the annotation and learning process, cutting time and cost without sacrificing accuracy.
💼 Why It Matters for Business:
This leap forward signals the beginning of a new era in AI for business automation. From manufacturing and logistics to service robotics, the use of AI-driven humanoid robots means businesses can begin to consider these systems for repetitive, labor-intensive tasks, especially in human-designed environments.
Helix isn't just about building a flashy robot, it's about solving real-world problems through robotic intelligence that interacts the way humans do: visually, verbally, and physically.
