Figure's robots make a bed together

PLUS: South Korea's military wants to enlist Spot

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Jennifer Mossalgue, Joey Liu, Rowan Cheung, Shubham Sharma & Zach Mink
May 11, 2026

Good morning, robotics enthusiasts. Figure just dropped a two-minute demo of its F.03 humanoids tag-teaming a full bedroom reset — opening doors, hanging clothes, and making a neatly smoothed bed.

The twist is that the robots share a single learned neural network, coordinating through visual cues alone, no explicit communication or central planner. Everyone is racing to build better robot brains; Figure just showed what happens when two bodies share one.

In today’s robotics rundown:

  • Figure’s humanoids make a bed together

  • South Korea’s army turns to Boston Dynamics

  • Uber’s robotaxi partner has a crash problem

  • Rocket Lab buys robot arm that went to Mars

  • Quick hits on other robotics news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

FIGURE AI

Image source: Figure AI

The Rundown: Figure AI just dropped a two‑minute demo of its Helix‑02–powered humanoids tag‑teaming a full bedroom reset — opening doors, hanging clothes, and making a neatly smoothed bed “better than most humans,” says CEO Brett Adock.

The details:

  • Figure calls it the first demo of a single learned neural network driving multi-humanoid collaborative locomanipulation, directly from pixels to actions.

  • The F.03 robots coordinate purely through a shared AI policy and visual cues, with no explicit communication or central planner directing their moves.

  • In the video, they open doors, hang clothes, clear surfaces, and then team up to lift, spread, and smooth a comforter to hotel‑room neatness.

  • The F.03’s wireless foot-charging dock lets it step onto a pad and recharge at 2 kW, no outlet-hunting or human intervention required.

Why it matters: While many multi-robot systems depend on explicit communication or a centralized planner, Figure shows emergent coordination — a significant architectural bet on scalability. If it holds outside staged demos, it’s the kind of foundation that makes a capable robot a deployable one.

HYUNDAI

Image source: Images 2.0 / The Rundown

The Rundown: South Korea is reportedly looking to deploy Hyundai's robotics arsenal — including Boston Dynamics’ Spot — to shore up military ranks as plummeting birthrates drain the conscription pool.

The details:

  • South Korea’s military is in talks with Hyundai to deploy robots across surveillance, reconnaissance, and logistics as troop numbers decline.

  • Potential systems include the Spot robot dog, the wheeled MobED platform, and X-ble Shoulder exoskeletons for load-bearing and mobility assistance.

  • Active-duty troop numbers have dropped from 650K in 2020 to 450K today, and the country has one of the world’s lowest birthrates.

  • Military planners are shifting toward unmanned systems to handle tasks from perimeter patrols to supply runs, fundamentally reshaping front-line operations.

Why it matters: South Korea's troop shortage is already here, and robots are looking like one of the most viable stopgaps on the table. But deploying unproven systems near the DMZ, where a sensor failure doesn’t just stop a factory line, certainly raises questions about how far militaries should go in automating their military ops.

AVRIDE

Image source: Avride

The Rundown: U.S. auto safety regulators have opened a formal investigation into Uber partner Avride after 16 crashes involving its self-driving robotaxis occurred in Dallas over the past four months.

The details:

  • U.S. auto safety regulators have opened a formal probe into Avride, a self-driving startup that operates robotaxis for Uber in Dallas.

  • The investigation was triggered by 16 crashes in which Avride vehicles were in autonomous mode with a human safety driver behind the wheel.

  • Reported incidents include vehicles changing lanes into moving traffic, hitting stationary objects, and failing to respond appropriately to cars ahead.

  • Regulators are scrutinizing whether Avride’s software is overly aggressive and whether its safety practices are adequate for operating on public roads.

Why it matters: The probe cuts to the core of Uber’s strategy: outsourcing autonomy to startups rather than building it in-house. If regulators find systemic flaws in Avride’s software or safety culture, expect a broader chill on robotaxi deployments, and fresh ammunition for skeptics who say AI drivers still aren’t ready for real streets.

ROCKET LAB

Image source: Rocket Lab

The Rundown: Rocket Lab just signed its largest launch contract to date — and revealed that it’s acquiring Motiv Space Systems, a Pasadena robotics firm whose hardware operated on the Perseverance Mars rover and NASA’s CADRE lunar rovers.

The details:

  • Motiv’s portfolio covers multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arms, actuators, and drive electronics purpose-built for deep-space conditions.

  • Rocket Lab will fold Motiv into a new division called Rocket Lab Robotics, absorbing its 50-person engineering team and Pasadena manufacturing facility.

  • The deal targets a specific pain point: solar array drive assemblies and other precision mechanisms that are expensive and hard to source.

  • Rocket Lab says the capability will extend into on-orbit and surface operations, positioning it for commercial Mars Sample Return and national security work.

Why it matters: Most space companies source their robotics from contractors and live with the bottlenecks. Rocket Lab is closing that gap, fusing launch, satellites, and robotics into a single in-house stack. By buying Motiv’s robots, it’s betting that owning the manipulators for on-orbit work matters as much as the rockets that get them there.

QUICK HITS

Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics unit released a video of its production-ready Atlas humanoid performing complex gymnastics.

Drone startup Helsing is reportedly lining up a new $1.2B funding round that would lift its valuation to about $18B, as investors pour money into defense tech companies.

South Korean robotics startup RLWRLD, backed by LG Electronics, reportedly released RLDX-1, a foundation AI model designed for five-finger robotic hands.

Austin-based Allen Control Systems, an anti-drone AI startup that makes autonomous weapons stations, is in talks to raise $200M at a $2B valuation.

Bloomberg’s Oleg Matsnev argues that today’s viral humanoids are still clunky, limited machines that fall far short of their AI-hype billing.

Self-driving truck startup Kodiak AI reportedly raised $100M by selling shares at a steep 29% discount, causing its stock to plummet 37% in after-hours trading.

Croatian startup Verne launched what it says is Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb in partnership with Uber, charging a flat fee of €1.99.

Nanoleaf, the smart lighting company, is pivoting to a new product lineup focused on robots, AI, and red-light therapy wellness devices, The Verge reports.

China unveiled a 220 lb., four-wheeled robot with dual robotic arms for its upcoming Chang’e-8 lunar mission, designed to function as a “Moon mechanic.”

Hugging Face launched an agentic toolkit for Reachy Mini that lets users without coding skills create custom robot apps by describing tasks in natural language.

COMMUNITY

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Rowan, Joey, Zach, Shubham, and Jennifer — The Rundown’s editorial team