Figure 03 vs Tesla Optimus - which one is better?
Everyone keeps comparing these two so I figured I'd try to actually break it down based on what we know.
Figure 03:
- 5'6", roughly 60kg
- Been working with BMW since early 2024
- OpenAI partnership for the AI side
- Actually showing it doing real warehouse tasks
Tesla Optimus (Gen 2):
- About 5'8", around 57kg reportedly
- Only deployed inside Tesla factories so far
- Using Tesla's in-house AI (FSD team crossover)
- Lots of demo's but hard to tell what's autonomous vs teleoperated
The real question is what matters more - the hardware or the AI running on it.
Figure seems ahead on getting actual deployments. Tesla has more resources but they're also juggling cars, energy, and everything else Musk is involved in.
What I want to know: has anyone seen solid info on battery life for either of these? That's going to matter a lot for real-world use. A robot that needs to charge every 2 hours isn't very practical.
3 Replies
Battery life is a great question and nobody talks about it. I've seen estimates of 2-4 hours for most of these which is honestly not great if you're running a factory floor.
The AI question is the big one. Figure has moved away from OpenAI to developing their own internal model Helix https://www.figure.ai/helix, but Tesla has more real-world data from their cars. Different advantages.
Hardware-wise they're honestly pretty comparable. Both bipedal, similar weight class, similar DOF. The differentiation is going to come from software.
Yeah the software piece is what I keep coming back to. You can iterate on hardware but the AI is what makes it actually useful. Curious to see who pulls ahead there.