US First Lady Melania Trump was escorted at a White House global summit by a black-and-white humanoid AI robot that spoke 11 languages, including Bengali.
Built by robotics firm Figure, the robot was presented by Trump as the “first American-made humanoid guest in the White House” during a gathering of First Spouses from 45 countries for the inaugural meeting of the Fostering the Future Together global coalition.
Named Figure 3, the humanoid greeted attendees — including France’s Brigitte Macron and Israel’s Sara Netanyahu — with a wave and “welcome” in 11 languages. A White House pool report said the robot said “Swagatam” in what was described as Bengali. It also spoke English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Japanese, Hebrew, Slovene, Ukrainian and Georgian.
Figure describes the robot as an autonomous assistant for household tasks. Covered in mesh fabric, it has cameras in its hands and tactile sensors to help operators identify targets. Promotional footage shows Figure 3 loading a dishwasher, doing laundry, picking up toys and folding clothes.
“Figure 3, thank you for joining me,” the First Lady said. “It’s fair to state you are my first American-made humanoid guest in the White House.”
In her keynote, Trump outlined three pillars for shaping the next generation: using AI to personalize learning, the emergence of humanoid educators as at-home tools, and technology and education as drivers of America’s economy. “The future of AI is ‘personified’ — it will be formed in the shape of humans,” she said, predicting a shift from mobile AI to humanoids operating in real-world environments.
The Fostering the Future Together summit convened policymakers and private-sector leaders as governments increasingly treat AI as an economic and strategic priority, according to a White House statement.
