Figure Melts Figure 02 With Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Terminator-Style Sendoff

Figure 02 got its Terminator ending. And Arnold Schwarzenegger came along for the sendoff.

Figure released its “F.02 Decommission” film on September 30, showing the retired humanoid being lowered into a glowing furnace, complete with a final thumbs-up. Schwarzenegger appears in the film and shared it with a suitably brief farewell: “Hasta la vista, F.02.”

Key Takeaways

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• Figure’s new farewell film features Arnold Schwarzenegger and a Terminator 2-style furnace sendoff for Figure 02.
• Brett Adcock says the event took place in Finland using a 75-ton electric arc furnace.
• Adcock says the bonus jumps were autonomous; Figure’s production account describes simulation training and a shoot at a foundry in Imatra.

According to Figure CEO Brett Adcock, an exchange on X that began with Schwarzenegger getting the better of him ended in Finland, with humanoids doing flips into a 75-ton electric arc furnace.

That is a fairly elaborate way to clear some office space.

From an internet poll to a furnace in Finland

As we reported ahead of the sendoff, Adcock had said Figure was running out of room at its headquarters and needed to retire its old Figure 02 robots. When someone suggested a charity auction, he said the machines needed to be destroyed to protect the company’s intellectual property.

A poll favored blowing them up, with 46.3% of 1,422 votes. Schwarzenegger offered a different recommendation: “You should melt them.” Adcock responded that he had sent a direct message.

The September 28 teaser hinted at what was coming. Then, on September 29, Adcock promised something “mind blowing”, adding: “It’s a bit of a detour 😂.” A trip to a Finnish furnace with the Terminator certainly qualifies.

Today’s release supplies the payoff, with Schwarzenegger himself taking part in the farewell.

A familiar final thumbs-up

The reference is to the closing moments of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, when Schwarzenegger’s T-800 is lowered into molten steel to prevent its technology from surviving. Figure’s film recreates the imagery with a chain, an industrial furnace and its own departing machine.

And yes, it includes the thumbs-up.

The film then trades the solemn farewell for bonus clips showing Figure 02 robots jumping into the furnace—the flips Adcock mentioned in his post. Adcock subsequently said the robots were trained to make the jumps autonomously, as detailed in the update below.

Behind the scenes: autonomous jumps in Imatra

Update, September 30: Figure has published a production account and Adcock has shared behind-the-scenes footage.

In his follow-up post, Adcock says Figure trained the robots to jump autonomously before shipping them to Finland for the furnace sequence.

Figure’s blog places the shoot at a foundry in Imatra, Finland. The company says foundries it approached in the US and Mexico declined to accept robots carrying lithium-ion batteries.

Training began in San Jose, with airbags beneath second-floor jumps. Figure says stunt performers supplied movement references and the team trained an AI model in simulation for the furnace jumps. At the foundry, it had 24 hours and six melts, with roughly 20 minutes per melt before a crust formed. According to the company, the robots continued executing their policies despite heat and electromagnetic interference that disrupted other electronics.

The blog also explains the business decision: maintaining F.02 made less sense as the F.03 fleet grew, while manual disassembly would consume engineering time needed for F.04. Figure says most F.02 units are now gone, with a few retained at headquarters. Recovered metal is being machined into limited-edition commemorative artifacts—an unexpected second career for the retired robots.

The poll’s voters may not have got their explosion, but Figure certainly delivered on the request for a memorable retirement ceremony.