Figure vs TARS Robotics: General-purpose compared

November 2026 edition · assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence

Figure ranks 5 on the Humanoids 100 with a score of 88; TARS Robotics ranks 51 with 64. Figure is ahead on deployment, production, commercials, technology, positioning and firepower. TARS Robotics is ahead on progress. Level on leverage. Figure is based in San Jose, United States, TARS Robotics in China. Figure: Private, founded 2022. Figure is named in 475 signals and TARS Robotics in 4.

Figure →

San Jose, California, United States · Humanoids · Systems / General-purpose · Private · founded 2022 · www.figure.ai

Figure develops and manufactures general-purpose humanoid robots, including Figure 03, for industrial, logistics, and home applications.

Humanoids 100 · rank 5 · score 88Robotics · watchlist · score 72AI Core · discarded · score 69

Scores, Humanoids (of 10)

Deployment10
Production8
Commercials6
Progress9
Technology10
Positioning8
Firepower10
Leverage6

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

Positioning

Figure is a US humanoid maker that delivered 350+ Figure 03 units from its BotQ line by April 2026 (throughput of one robot an hour, a stated path to 100,000 a year) and ran Figure 02 at BMW Spartanburg for ~11 months (90,000+ parts at >99% placement accuracy, described as the first independently verifiable large-scale automotive humanoid deployment). It raised $1B+ Series C in September 2025 at a $39B post-money (a 15x step-up in 19 months; NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Intel, LG among participants), launched Figure 03 in October 2025, and exited its OpenAI collaboration for in-house Helix models. The negative signal: BMW chose Hexagon Robotics' wheeled AEON for its first European humanoid pilot at Leipzig (February 2026), so Figure went from BMW's singular humanoid partner to one supplier among several, and secondary shares traded below the $39B round price by August 2026. It is effectively pre-revenue at scale against that valuation.

Latest signals

  • Tesla, Figure, and Apptronik are preparing new humanoid robots without announcing reveal dates.Humanoids Daily
  • Figure disclosed 37.5 million human-video uploads for its AI development.Humanoids Daily
  • Figure reached design lock for its next humanoid hardware iteration.Humanoids Daily

475 signals name Figure.

Facts, with sources

  • Figure released the Helix 2.5 model for home robotics.rsshub.bkraju.com — 2026-09-18
  • Helix 2.5 model for home roboticsrsshub.bkraju.com — 2026-09-18
  • Figure launched Helix 2.5 for home robotics, achieving 56% full-task success across 30 unfamiliar homes.interestingengineering.com — 2026-09-17

457 facts on file.

TARS Robotics →

China · Humanoids · Systems / General-purpose · tarsrobotics.com

TARS Robotics is a humanoid robotics company, as indicated by its humanoid-focused wire-harness assembly capability and substantial financing for development and commercialization.

Humanoids 100 · rank 51 · score 64

Scores, Humanoids (of 10)

Deployment4
Production4
Commercials2
Progress10
Technology8
Positioning6
Firepower8
Leverage6

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

Positioning

TARS is the capital story of Chinese embodied AI: a $122M angel+ round in July 2025 (a domestic record) followed by a $455M Pre-A in April 2026 co-led by GL Ventures, HSG and Meituan — described by Caixin as China largest single humanoid financing round — all before meaningful commercial deployment. Technically it targets precision manufacturing tasks, claiming its humanoid solves wire-harness assembly, one of the hardest unsolved dexterity problems in factory automation; if that claim holds at production quality, the valuation logic follows. Today it scores as maximal momentum and firepower on minimal deployed evidence.

Latest signals

  • SCALEFORCE started a million-yuan-scale data order for TARS Robotics.QbitAI 量子位
  • TARS deployed the AWE3.5 embodied model for precision automotive wire-harness assembly.QbitAI 量子位
  • TARS Robotics released the open World in Your Hands dataset for physical AI.The Robot Report

4 signals name TARS Robotics.

Facts, with sources

  • GL Ventures, HSG, and Meituan participated in the Pre-A funding roundCaixin
  • Pre-ACaixin
  • angel+ roundTechNode

12 facts on file.

More comparisons

Questions this page answers

Figure or TARS Robotics: which is ahead in humanoids?

Figure ranks 5 on the Humanoids 100 with a score of 88; TARS Robotics ranks 51 with 64. Figure is ahead on deployment, production, commercials, technology, positioning and firepower. TARS Robotics is ahead on progress. Level on leverage. Figure is based in San Jose, United States, TARS Robotics in China. Figure: Private, founded 2022. Figure is named in 475 signals and TARS Robotics in 4.

How do Figure and TARS Robotics compare?

Figure ranks 5 on the Humanoids 100 with a score of 88; TARS Robotics ranks 51 with 64. Figure is ahead on deployment, production, commercials, technology, positioning and firepower. TARS Robotics is ahead on progress. Level on leverage. Figure is based in San Jose, United States, TARS Robotics in China. Figure: Private, founded 2022. Figure is named in 475 signals and TARS Robotics in 4. Both company files carry the scores on eight measures, the facts with sources and the latest signals.

Every comparison here comes from the same files members use every day.

Members see every signal and fact behind both companies, the live ranking, the questions the signals answer and the week explained. $99 a month, 7-day trial. What Frontier Tech Intelligence is →

Subscribe · $99 a month