Figure decided to bid farewell to a generation of humanoid robots in cinematic fashion; the company released a video showing one of its robots being slowly lowered into a vat of molten metal. If the scene looks familiar, it is no coincidence. Figure recreated the famous sequence from *Terminator 2* in which the T-800 sacrifices itself by submerging into molten metal.

The reference extends to the final moments: as it disappears, Figure 02 raises its arm and gives the classic "thumbs-up" before being completely submerged. Yet, beneath the playful homage lies the conclusion of a significant chapter for the company. Figure 02 belongs to the generation that helped Figure develop and test technologies subsequently incorporated into its newer humanoid models.

It was with machines from this phase that the company made strides in manipulation, locomotion, and the use of artificial intelligence to control robots in environments designed for humans. Figure also began deploying its robots in real-world industrial settings—including trials at a BMW factory—and the technology has advanced rapidly since then.

The company introduced new generations of hardware, proprietary AI systems, and a strategy increasingly focused on transforming experimental humanoids into machines capable of performing useful work in the real world. Consequently, the destruction of the Figure 02 in the video serves almost as a symbolic retirement; it does not mean that all of the company's older robots are literally being tossed into molten metal, but rather that it is a farewell staged specifically to mark the end of that generation.

The choice of the Terminator was also an irony hard to ignore: for decades, Hollywood used humanoids like the T-800 to envision a future where machines would become increasingly like us. Now, companies are actually building bipedal robots capable of walking, manipulating objects, working in factories, and learning new tasks—only this time, it was the human who decided to send the robots into the molten metal, and apparently, the Figure 02 took it quite well.f