Industry

Figure Prepares Launch of "Hark": Proactive AI Assistant Bridging Humanoid Robotics and Desktop Workflows

Humanoid robotics company Figure AI is preparing to unveil Hark, a proactive AI assistant operating across both digital devices and physical humanoid robots. The system opens a public waitlist this week, promising contextual anticipation without explicit prompt initiation.

By Maya Lin-Vasquez · 2026-10-06 · 10 min read

Humanoid robotics developer Figure AI confirmed on October 6, 2026, that it is launching Hark, a proactive artificial intelligence assistant designed to bridge digital desktop software and physical humanoid robots. A public waitlist opens this week for enterprise partners and software developers.

While consumer AI assistants from Apple, Google, and OpenAI remain confined to glass screens, Figure's Hark is engineered to command both virtual desktop environments and the physical limbs of Figure 02 humanoid robots.

Proactive Architecture: Shifting from Reactive Chat to Continuous Anticipation

Standard conversational agents rely on a request-response cycle: the user types a prompt or speaks a wake word, and the model responds.

Hark runs an asynchronous background state loop:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      Figure Hark Perception Loop                       │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Multimodal Sensors (Desktop Screen + Phone Vision + Figure Robot Lidar)│
│                                  │                                     │
│                                  ▼                                     │
│          Temporal World Model (Tracks physical & digital state)        │
│          • "User started 3D CAD export for robotic gripper component"  │
│          • "Figure 02 robot standing by 3D printer in Lab Bay 3"       │
│                                  │                                     │
│                                  ▼                                     │
│          Proactive Decision Engine:                                    │
│          • Automatically cues printer warm-up without being asked      │
│          • Directs Figure 02 to position print bed build plate         │
│          • Pings engineer on desktop: "CAD file ready. Print staged?"  │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

By maintaining a shared world model between virtual computer workspaces and physical robotic bodies, Hark eliminates the manual translation step between software design and physical action.

Digital and Physical Capabilities

Figure demonstrated three primary workflow domains during private partner previews:

Domain Digital Assistant Action Physical Humanoid Action
Hardware Prototyping Analyzes circuit schematics in Altium Sorts surface-mount component reels into bins
Warehouse Fulfillment Reconciles ERP packing slips in SAP Moves pallet boxes onto autonomous tugger carts
Office Operations Transcribes whiteboards & calendars meeting Restocks conference room supplies & secures doors

Waitlist and Developer API Access

Figure stated that the public waitlist launching this week will grant initial access to the Hark Desktop Companion before rolling out physical robot integration kits.

The companion software operates as a native application on macOS and Windows, offering an open WebSocket API that allows robotics developers to hook custom ROS 2 (Robot Operating System) nodes directly into Hark's proactive reasoning core.