From farms to flying cars, Brett Adcock’s journey to revolutionise robotics with Figure is a tale of ambition, innovation, and the relentless pursuit of the future. As the founder of Figure, Adcock isn’t just building robots—he’s resurrecting sci-fi fantasies and turning them into reality.
From Farm to Future: The Making of a Robotic Visionary
Growing up on a Midwestern farm, Adcock learned early that “destiny is something you grab by the reins”. His parents, entrepreneurs themselves, instilled a hunger for problem-solving that led him to found Vettery (an AI-driven recruiting platform sold for £79M) and Archer Aviation (electric air taxis now valued at £3.9B). But robots? That’s his Endgame.
“It’s where I get my dopamine”, Adcock quips, leaning back in Figure’s Sunnyvale HQ as a prototype robot strolls behind him. “Hardware is hell, but the reward is rewriting the future”.
The £79 Trillion Labour Problem
Global labour shortages, repetitive jobs, and rising costs are cracking open a market ripe for disruption. Figure’s bet? General-purpose humanoids that learn through AI, not pre-programmed code. Unlike single-task industrial arms, Adcock’s robots aim to handle everything from warehouse logistics to making your coffee.
Key Technical Challenges:
- Vertical Integration: Figure designs everything—actuators, batteries, neural networks—in-house.
- AI Training: Robots learn via “onboard inference” (Nvidia GPUs process real-time data) and fleet-wide shared learning.
- Safety First: Early focus on industrial deployments (e.g., auto manufacturing) to refine robustness before home use.
“Our hardware never gets worse—only better”, Adcock says. The latest prototype, Figure 02, reportedly operates with fewer daily faults than most interns.
The OpenAI Split & Robot-Specific AI
Figure initially partnered with OpenAI to develop language models for robots. But Adcock realised AI and hardware must evolve in lockstep.
“We dumped OpenAI because our neural nets needed robot-specific data”, he explains. “You can’t train a bot to grab a spanner using ChatGPT”. Figure now trains its own models using proprietary data from real-world tasks—a move that’s accelerated progress.
Tesla’s Optimus vs. Figure: The Robot Wars Begin
Elon Musk’s Optimus may have a head start, but Adcock sees flaws in Tesla’s “car manufacturing” approach.
- Hardware Edge: Figure’s robots are lighter, nimbler, and optimised for AI-driven tasks
- Speed: Figure launched in 2022; Tesla’s Optimus remains in R&D
- Focus: Adcock prioritises workforce automation first, while Tesla eyes consumer markets
“Manufacturing a robot isn’t like building a Cybertruck”, Adcock smirks. “Phones are assembled by hand—why can’t robots be?”
Figure’s Culture: No Middle Managers, Just Builders
Figure’s 200-person team operates like a startup on rocket fuel:
- Flat Hierarchy: Directors code. Adcock sits with engineers
- Meritocracy: “If you’re not hands-on, you’re gone”
- Insane Pace: “This year, we either transform industries or collapse”
Adcock’s mantra? “Speed + Direction = Victory.”
The Trillion-Dollar Endgame
Adcock envisions a world where humanoids handle 50% of global labour—repairing infrastructure, building homes, even wiping toddlers’ noses.
“Imagine telling your robot, ‘Fix the sink’—and it just does”, he says. For sceptics, he issues a challenge: Visit our lab. The future isn’t a demo; it’s already here.
Why This Matters
Humanoid robotics could unlock the next productivity revolution, collapsing costs for goods and services. But as Adcock warns, “Only a few players will dominate”. Whether Figure joins Tesla in the pantheon depends on one thing: delivering robots that don’t just work—they wow.