Figure just inked a deal to put humanoid robots in retail warehouses

Humanoid robots are officially moving beyond auto plants and heading straight into retail supply chains.

Figure just signed a commercial deal with Catalyst Brands, the retail operator behind big names like JCPenney, Aéropostale, and Brooks Brothers. Figure founder Brett Adcock announced that the goal is to deploy humanoid robots at scale, kicking things off with an initial roll-out in Reno, Nevada.

Taking the Reno proving ground to retail

Adcock didn't share exact robot counts yet, but the plan starts with a focused initial deployment in Reno before scaling up across Catalyst's broader logistics network.

As retail operators wrestle with labor crunches and fulfillment bottlenecks, humanoid form factors are pitching a clear promise: automated physical labor without forcing companies to rebuild their existing warehouse layouts from scratch.

Why it matters

For Catalyst Brands, this is a practical test of whether general-purpose humanoids can survive the grind of real-world apparel logistics.

Across the robotics landscape, the commercial race is accelerating fast. Moving into retail fulfillment proves Figure wants revenue-generating deployments outside heavy manufacturing, turning up the heat on competitors like Tesla and Boston Dynamics to show real commercial contracts of their own.

We think starting small in Reno is the right play to pressure-test the hardware in production. But going from a localized pilot to actual fleet-scale operations is a massive operational leap. Figure still has to prove its robots can handle daily warehouse wear and tear while delivering economics that actually beat human labor over time.