Figure CEO insists F.03 factory test was autonomous, not teleoperated

Figure Chief Executive Brett Adcock said on May 16 that the company’s F.03 humanoid factory test was autonomous and not teleoperated. Adcock made the claim in a Bloomberg Technology interview posted to YouTube under the headline “Figure CEO Says No Teleoperation in Their Humanoid Robot Testing.” The interview came after Figure’s multi-day livestream of package-sorting robots drew skepticism online about whether humans were controlling the machines off camera. Bloomberg’s report on May 15 said the robots had sorted packages for about 50 hours nonstop without intervention, citing Adcock. ### What exactly did Brett Adcock say? Brett Adcock said in the Bloomberg interview that “there’s absolutely no teleoperation into this,” according to Bloomberg’s May 15 report and the May 16 YouTube posting of the segment. He also said viewers were seeing repeatable movement patterns that came from the robot’s learned behavior, not from a human operator taking over. Bloomberg Technology identified Adcock as responding to claims that Figure’s robots were teleoperated. (youtube.com) The YouTube description for the segment said the livestream had been watched by millions across YouTube and X and had drawn skepticism. ### What was Figure showing in the livestream? Figure’s YouTube livestream titled “F.03 Livestream - Day 3” said it showed “a team of humanoid robots running a full 8-hr shift at human performance levels.” The same stream description said, “This is fully autonomous running Helix-02,” naming Figure’s software stack. (youtube.com) The livestream page shows the stream started on May 13, 2026. Bloomberg reported on May 15 that the robots had sorted packages for around 50 hours nonstop without intervention, indicating the demonstration had extended beyond the initial single-shift framing. (youtube.com) ### What is Helix-02, the system Figure says was running? Figure said in a January 27 technical post that Helix 02 extends control to the robot’s full body — walking, manipulating and balancing as one continuous system. (youtube.com) The company said the model uses onboard sensors and can complete tasks with “no resets and no human intervention” in its published demonstrations. Figure’s Helix page says the system controls perception, movement and reasoning “on board and in real time.” The company says that setup allows Figure 03 to perform tasks on its own rather than following a script. (youtube.com) ### Why did teleoperation become the central question? The May 16 Bloomberg Technology segment was framed around skepticism from online viewers who questioned whether the robots were operating autonomously. (figure.ai) The segment description said Adcock joined hosts Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow specifically to counter claims that the robots were teleoperated. A live, continuous stream leaves more room for outside scrutiny than a short edited demo. (figure.ai) Figure’s own livestream description emphasized an 8-hour shift and “fully autonomous” operation, putting the autonomy claim at the center of what viewers were asked to judge. ### What has Figure said publicly before this week about autonomy? Figure said on January 27 that Helix 02 had completed a four-minute kitchen task using onboard sensing with no human intervention. (youtube.com) The company has also published additional Helix-02 demonstrations in home settings, including living-room and bedroom cleanup tasks, as part of a broader claim that its system can handle long-horizon, whole-body autonomy. (youtube.com) Figure’s news page lists “Ramping Figure 03 Production” on April 29, 2026, and “Introducing Figure 03” on October 9, 2025, placing the livestream in the context of a newer hardware platform that the company has been positioning for scale. ### Where can viewers check the claim for themselves? YouTube pages for both the Bloomberg interview and Figure’s “F.03 Livestream - Day 3” remained available on May 17. The Bloomberg clip names Brett Adcock, Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow, while the Figure stream describes the robots as running a full 8-hour shift at human performance levels under Helix-02. (figure.ai) May 17 is the next concrete checkpoint for the story because the public video record is still online. (figure.ai) Figure’s YouTube stream and Bloomberg Technology’s interview are the named sources where viewers can review Adcock’s denial and the company’s autonomy claims directly. (youtube.com)