Figure Technology Solutions Inc

Figure is replacing its F.02 humanoids with the new F.03 generation and melted several F.02 units in a 75-ton arc furnace in Imatra to render protected specialized components unusable. The event was staged with the participation of Arnold Schwarzenegger and former MythBusters members; some robots reportedly made autonomous jumps into the furnace. Figure cites effort and time savings in disassembly as the reasons and plans to make mementos from the melted material for sale. » More on heise.de

Figure tested its AI-controlled humanoid model with Helix 2.5 in 30 apartments in the San Francisco area and achieved an overall success rate of 56% on tasks such as tidying, folding towels and making beds. Helix 2.5 requires half as much training data per task as its predecessor, but falls short on certain tasks like collecting toys (40%). The privately held company has been valued at $39 billion since 2025 and counts backers such as Nvidia, Intel and Jeff Bezos; Nvidia deliveries and compute capacity are relevant for training and scaling. BMW had previously run similar tests in manufacturing, where robots successfully took over repetitive factory tasks. » More on deraktionaer.de

At the Goldman Sachs conference Figure announced it is shifting from direct lending to a blockchain-based capital markets platform focused on tokenized assets and Figure Connect. Figure Connect already accounts for 65% of volume and is expected to reach 70% in the near term, while take rates are falling and the model is becoming more capital-efficient. The acquisition of Kiavi (around $537 million) expands the product range to fix-and-flip and DSCR loans; Figure expects an EBITDA contribution of about $100 million and payback in under four years. Management highlights significant cost advantages, strong revenue and margin performance (adjusted EBITDA margin 55% in Q2 2024), and plans to expand into auto and SMB lending through tokenization and partnerships. » More on de.investing.com