With yet another failed Starship test this week, in which the ambitious heavy rocket exploded once again, you might reasonably suspect that luck has finally run out for SpaceX.
Technology
Why do SpaceX rockets keep exploding?
But this degree of failure during a development process isn’t actually unusual, according to Wendy Whitman Cobb, a space policy expert with the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, especially when you’re testing new space technology as complex as a large rocket. However, the Starship tests are meaningfully different from the slow, steady pace of development that we’ve come to expect from the space sector.
“The reason a lot of people perceive this to be unusual is that this is not the typical way that we have historically tested rockets,” Whitman Cobb says.
Historically speaking, space agencies like NASA or legacy aerospace companies like United Launch Alliance (ULA) have taken their time with rocket development and have not tested until they were confident in a successful outcome. That’s still the case today with major NASA projects like the development of the Space Launch System (SLS), which has now dragged on for over a decade. “They will take as long as they need to to make sure that the rocket is going to work and that a launch is going to be successful,” Whitman Cobb says.
“This is not the typical way that we have historically tested rockets.”
SpaceX has chosen a different path, in which it tests, fails, and iterates frequently. That process has been at the heart of its success, allowing the company to make developments like the reusable Falcon 9 rocket at a rapid pace. However, it also means frequent and very public failures, which have generated complaints about environmental damage in the local area around the launch site and have caused the company to butt heads with regulatory agencies. There are also significant concerns about the political ties of CEO Elon Musk to the Trump administration and his undemocratic influence over federal regulation of SpaceX’s work.
Even within the context of SpaceX’s move-fast-and-break-things approach, though, the development of the Starship has appeared chaotic. Compared to the development of the Falcon 9 rocket, which had plenty of failures but a generally clear forward path from failing often to failing less and less as time went on, Starship has a much more spotty record.
Previous development was more incremental, first demonstrating that the rocket was sound before moving onto more complex issues like reusability of the booster or first stage. The company didn’t even attempt to save the booster of a Falcon 9 and reuse it until several years into testing.
Starship isn’t like that. “They are trying to do everything at once with Starship,” Whitman Cobb says, as the company is trying to debut an entirely new rocket with new engines and make it reusable all at once. “It really is a very difficult engineering challenge.”
“They are trying to do everything at once with Starship.”
The Raptor engines that power the Starship are a particularly tough engineering nut to crack, as there are a lot of them — 33 per Starship, all clustered together — and they need to be able to perform the tricky feat of reigniting in space. The relighting of engines has been successful on some of the previous Starship test flights, but it has also been a point of failure.
Why, then, is SpaceX pushing for so much, so fast? It’s because Musk is laser-focused on getting to Mars. And while it would theoretically be possible to send a mission to Mars using existing rockets like the Falcon 9, the sheer volume of equipment, supplies, and people needed for a Mars mission has a very large mass. To make Mars missions even remotely affordable, you need to be able to move a lot of mass in one launch — hence the need for a much larger rocket like the Starship or NASA’s SLS.
NASA has previously been hedging its bets by developing its own heavy launch rocket as well as supporting the development of Starship. But with recent funding cuts, it’s looking more and more likely that the SLS will get axed — leaving SpaceX as the only player in town to facilitate NASA’s Mars plans.
But there’s still an awful lot of work to do to get Starship to a place where serious plans for crewed missions can even be made.
“There’s no way that they’re putting people on that right now.”
Will a Starship test to Mars happen by 2026, with a crewed test to follow as soon as 2028, as Musk said this week he’s aiming for? “I think it’s completely delusional,” Whitman Cobb says, pointing out that SpaceX has not appeared to be seriously considering issues like adding life support to the Starship or making concrete plans for Mars habitats, launch and landing pads, or infrastructure.
“I don’t see SpaceX as putting its money where its mouth is,” Whitman Cobb says. “If they do make the launch window next year, it’s going to be uncrewed. There’s no way that they’re putting people on that right now. And I seriously doubt whether they will make it.”
That doesn’t mean Starship will never make it to Mars, of course. “I believe SpaceX will engineer their way out of it. I believe their engineering is good enough that they will make Starship work,” Whitman Cobb says. But getting an uncrewed rocket to Mars within the next decade is a lot more realistic than next year.
Putting people on the rocket, though, is another matter entirely. “If they’re looking to build a large-scale human settlement? That’s decades,” Whitman Cobb says. “I don’t know that I will live to see that.”
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Figure AI says three of its humanoid robots crossed more than 24 hours of continuous autonomous operation after a test that was supposed to last only eight hours kept running.
The California-based robotics startup says its Helix-02 artificial intelligence-powered robots sorted small packages around the clock without human control. The robots became part of a livestream that viewers followed closely. They even picked up names along the way: Bob, Frank and Gary.
Once people started calling them that online, Figure AI added visible name tags.
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AUTONOMOUS ROBOT WITH MUSCLES, SMARTS AND ZERO SICK DAYS
Figure AI says its humanoid robots sorted small packages for more than 24 hours without human control during a livestreamed test. (Figure AI)
Figure AI robots sort packages nonstop
The task sounds simple. Pick up a small package. Find the barcode. Place the package on a conveyor belt with the barcode facing down. Then do it again. Warehouse work often depends on steady movement, quick decisions and the ability to keep going when small problems pop up. Figure AI says the robots sorted more than 28,000 packages during the operation. The company also says they worked at speeds close to human workers. According to CEO Brett Adcock, the original goal was an eight-hour run. After the robots made it through without a reported failure, the company kept the test going.
Helix-02 powers the package-sorting robots
Figure AI says the robots ran on Helix-02, its in-house AI system. The company describes it as a neural network that combines vision, touch sensing, body awareness and movement control. Humanoid robots need to do more than move an arm. They have to balance, grip packages, adjust their posture and respond when an object lands in an awkward spot. The company says the robots used onboard cameras and AI reasoning to detect barcodes and sort packages. Figure AI also stressed that people were not remotely steering the robots. Adcock said every action came directly from Helix-02.
WAREHOUSE ROBOT USES AI TO PLAY REAL-LIFE TETRIS TO HANDLE MORE THAN EVER BEFORE
The robots used Helix-02 to detect barcodes, pick up packages and place them on a conveyor belt with the barcode facing down. (Figure AI)
Livestream gives robots human names
The livestream gave people a front-row seat to something they do not usually see: humanoid robots grinding through a warehouse task in real time. Viewers watched the robots keep sorting packages as the test moved far beyond the original eight-hour goal. Then came the nicknames. Bob, Frank and Gary started to sound less like machines and more like the guys working the late shift. Figure AI leaned into it by adding visible name tags after viewers started using the names online. That small human touch made the demo easier to follow. It also made the bigger question harder to ignore: If robots can keep working through long shifts, what happens to the people who do this work today?
Robot reset feature could reduce downtime
One of Figure AI’s biggest claims involves recovery. The company says Helix-02 can trigger an automatic reset when a robot gets stuck or faces a situation outside its expected behavior. That may sound like a small detail, but it could become a huge factor in real workplaces. A robot that needs help every few minutes quickly becomes a burden. A robot that can pause, reset and resume work starts to look much more useful. Figure AI also says a robot can leave the work floor for maintenance if a software or hardware issue appears. Another robot can then take over, so the operation keeps moving.
Viewers nicknamed the robots Bob, Frank and Gary as they watched the package-sorting test continue beyond its original eight-hour goal. (Figure AI)
Warehouse automation race heats up
Figure AI has plenty of competition. Tesla, Agility Robotics and Apptronik are also working on humanoid robots for warehouses, factories and logistics operations. Figure AI has already tested its robots at BMW manufacturing facilities in South Carolina. That gives a clue about where this technology may show up first. These robots will likely appear in controlled industrial spaces before they become part of everyday home life.
Package sorting gives people a clear way to understand the technology. If a robot can handle a repetitive job for long stretches, companies will start asking where else robots can help.
Robot package sorting still faces real tests
The next challenge will be proving this works beyond one livestreamed task. A package-sorting run can show endurance, but businesses will want more proof. They will want to know how often the robots fail, how much maintenance they need and whether they can handle messy conditions without slowing down the whole operation. They will also want independent evidence, not only company claims, from a public demo. Warehouse floors can get chaotic. Packages arrive in different shapes. Labels can appear in odd places. Belts can jam. People may walk through the area. A robot that handles one livestreamed task still has to prove it can handle the messier version of the job.
What humanoid robots mean for you
For you, this may feel far away from your daily life. Most people will not buy a humanoid robot anytime soon. Plenty of questions also remain about cost, safety, reliability and real-world performance. Still, the impact could show up in familiar places. Faster package handling could affect delivery times. Warehouses may change how they staff overnight shifts. Companies may also use robots to fill repetitive roles that are hard to staff or physically demanding.
At the same time, this raises real concerns about jobs. A robot that can work for hours without a break sounds impressive in a demo. For workers, it may sound like another sign that automation keeps moving deeper into everyday labor. That does not mean every warehouse job vanishes. Real workplaces are messy. Packages vary. Equipment fails. People still solve problems that demos rarely show. However, Figure AI’s test suggests humanoid robots are moving from short clips toward longer workplace trials.
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Figure AI’s 24-hour package-sorting run shows where warehouse automation may be heading next. The robots still need to prove they can handle real-world conditions at a price companies can justify. Even so, the demo suggests humanoid robots are moving beyond flashy hype videos. What stands out here may be how ordinary the work looks. These robots are not doing backflips or waving to a crowd. They are picking up packages, reading barcodes and placing items on a conveyor belt over and over again. That kind of boring work can be exactly where automation starts to feel real. If companies can make these robots reliable, safe and affordable, the warehouse floor could look very different in the years ahead.
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Would you feel comfortable knowing your next package was sorted by a humanoid robot, or does that make you wonder what job automation will target next? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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There isn’t really a solid equivalent to Goodreads or Letterboxd for music lovers, but Record Club is aiming to change that. Yes, we have Rate Your Music, but its interface is crowded, and it feels more geared towards longer-form reviews than cataloging your listening habits and connecting with other fans. Record Club is clean and modern, with a streamlined interface that’s quite similar to Letterboxd.
The basic features you’d expect from such a site are all there. You can rate and review records or mark them as listened to. You can also see what your friends are listening to and see what albums are trending with other users. There’s a spot on your profile to list your five favorite albums, plus five records you have in heavy rotation. You can also create custom lists (ranked or unranked) and share them — handy for tracking your top albums of the year, or putting together genre-specific crash courses. You can also add records to your queue, so you can keep track of albums you want to listen to, but haven’t gotten around to yet. (I’ll probably be making extensive use of that.)
You can follow your favorite artists as well as entire record labels. That makes it easy to stay on top of new artists on labels like 4AD, AD 93, Fire Talk, and Warp. Record Club pulls all of its data from the open-source music encyclopedia MusicBrainz. If you sign up, give me a follow, and see what I’m spinning on repeat this week.
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