In a groundbreaking development for robotics, Figure AI has unveiled Helix, a Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model that pushes the boundaries of what humanoid robots can achieve. For decades, science fiction envisioned robots that seamlessly respond to voice commands, adapt to dynamic environments, and collaborate with humans. Helix turns that vision into reality.
Designed to integrate vision, language comprehension, and physical action, the Helix platform enables humanoid robots to understand and execute complex tasks like organizing groceries, handling fragile items, or even collaborating with other robots. By combining cutting-edge AI with advanced motor control, Helix-equipped robots create a glimpse into a world where your kitchen, office, or workplace might soon have a robotic co-worker.
Perhaps most striking is the efficiency underpinning Helix. Unlike other AI systems requiring enormous datasets, Helix was trained on just 500 hours of multimodal data, a stark contrast to the years of data often required for comparable models. Despite this, it demonstrates exceptional generalization capabilities—manipulating thousands of novel objects and adapting to unfamiliar tasks without prior programming.
During an awe-inspiring live demonstration, two humanoid robots powered by Helix successfully collaborated to complete household tasks in a show kitchen. The robots responded to commands like “Place the carton of eggs in the fridge and hand the cereal box to the other robot” with impeccable precision. The combined understanding of visual and linguistic cues coupled with fine motor skills allowed these robots to not just “attempt” the task but to excel at it.
Beyond home environments, Helix has vast potential applications in industries such as logistics, healthcare, hospitality, and construction. For businesses, the opportunity to deploy multi-capable humanoid robots that can learn and adapt on the job is a transformative prospect. “Helix is not just a technical milestone,” said Figure AI’s CEO. “It’s a pivotal step toward making humanoid robotics commercially viable, accessible, and useful to millions.”
With Helix processing visual and auditory data at 7-9 Hz and generating movement instructions at a blazing 200 Hz, this platform ensures seamless interaction with human-like reflexes. And while many AI models exist as abstract software solutions, Helix runs directly on embedded GPUs within each robot, ensuring efficiency and scalability for production-ready robotics.
Helix isn’t just a model; it’s a blueprint for a future where advanced humanoids will shift from research labs to real-world environments—changing the way we think about human-robot collaboration and automation.
