Here\u2019s something you don\u2019t see every day, unless you happen to watch\u00a0Terminator 2: Judgement Day that much: robots diving into a pool of molten metal.<\/p>\n
AI robotics firm Figure recently retired its fleet of Figure 02 humanoid robots. The company wrote in a blog post<\/a> that the robots were no longer maintainable, and Figure had decided to destroy them completely in order to protect their \u201ccustom-built actuators and other intellectual property\u201d from leaks. They settled on the method most famously used to dispose of the shape-shifting T-1000 robot assassin in Terminator 2 after franchise star and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tweeted to<\/a> CEO Brett Adcock that \u201cYou should melt them.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Figure\u2019s blog post, \u201cNone of the metal foundries we contacted in the US and Mexico would let us jump a robot with lithium-ion batteries into their expensive equipment.\u201d Understandably. One steel foundry in Imatra, Finland did volunteer, and Figure began training its robots to jump off cliffs in simulation.<\/p>\n F.02 Decommission pic.twitter.com\/NAJsRpplR8<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Figure (@Figure_robot) September 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n When taken to the facility, the robots dutifully went to their deaths without error, despite \u201cextreme heat and electromagnetic fields.\u201d (If it looks like the robots hesitated to jump, that\u2019s presumably either because Figure instructed them to or they were simply calculating the right suicide trajectory.) The 75-ton electric arc furnace did the job within \u201cjust 24 hours and six melts.\u201d Schwarzenegger made a cameo, trading a thumbs-up with one of the disintegrating robots and quipping \u201cHasta la vista, Figure 02.\u201d<\/p>\n The company is selling preorders on metal bars made from the remains at $500-$1,900 apiece<\/a>, though the more expensive memento is sold out.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really trained robots to jump autonomously, shipped them to Finland, and had them leap into a vat of molten steel,\u201d Figure wrote. They sure did! Let\u2019s hope humans aren\u2019t next.<\/p>\n