GoKawiilFirst lady of Sierra Leone Fatima Jabbe-Bio, Polish first lady Marta Nawrocka, French first lady Brigitte Macron, and U.S. first lady Melania Trump look at a humanoid robot during the Fostering the Future Together Global Coalition Summit in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 25, 2026.
The White House hosted its "first humanoid robot guest" on Wednesday, with first lady Melania Trump appearing alongside a robot from robotics upstart Figure AI.
The robot, identified as Figure 3, accompanied the first lady during the second day of the Fostering the Future Together Global Coalition Summit, a gathering focused on technology and children's education.
The machine greeted attendees in multiple languages and described itself as "a humanoid built in the United States of America," according to widely circulated footage from the event.
The display represented one of, if not the, highest-profile showcases of humanoid robotics in the U.S. to date and highlights how the tech is becoming a national priority amid global tech competition. Beijing has also promoted humanoid robots at highly publicized events this year.
The first lady used the robot to promote her push for artificial intelligence in children's education, suggesting that the robots could one day act as interactive educators at home. However, Figure AI says its third-generation humanoids are also applicable for more general purposes, including commercial and household tasks.
The White House spotlight is likely to boost the brand of Nvidia -backed Figure AI, a lesser-known robot company compared to larger humanoid players like Tesla 's Optimus and Boston Dynamics, though some of its team comes from those competitors, as well as tech giants like Apple .