Hi!
I'm stuck at some checkpoints and confused. It's probably not a bug, but I might be missing something I simply do not understand.
1. I'm stuck at the 'Checkpoint: Mass Production Demonstration' which states
"Place 4 Medium Furnace 1"
"Place 6 Medium Assembler 1"
Cost: Building Robot (Building Requirement), 1 Mechanical Prototype Science (red)

So far, I've used building robots in my personal roboport to put down well over 6 Medium Assembler 1 and well over Medium Furnace 1. I've even, just for sanity, run off into the desert , crafted 4 Medium Furnaces and 6 Medium Assemblers by hand, and have had robots put them down for the first time in the middle of nowhere. Still, no luck. My lab is powered. It has science packs in it, including the red "mechanical prototype science". I just don't know what to do to get past this checkpoint!

Identically, I'm also stuck at the "Checkpoint: Plumbing Deployment"
Again, I've used robots to place down the required items. The lab is powered and has the necessary science pack. What am I missing?

All of these checkpoints are based on the numbers from your production statistics window on the upper right. You should sanity check those numbers to see how many of those buildings Factorio thinks you have built. On the tab for buildings, there are 2 sides, 1 for things you've built and one for things you've torn down. The number of things you've built needs to exceed the number of things you've torn down by the required amount (so you can't just keep rebuilding the same 1 item over and over to qualify).

I'm guessing that these numbers won't look right for you for whatever reason. So it becomes a question of why. One issues that's come up in the past is a conflict with some kind of QoL mod that instantly builds things but neglects to add to the production statistics as if you'd built it normally. That may also happen in editor mode, I'm not sure. If your bots are actually placing them, it's not quite the same thing, but it could be an unknown mod doing it if you're using a mod that affects the behavior of construction bots.

I figured it out. Sorry for any confusion, but it had to do with the visual similarity for the 'Medium Furnace 1' and 'Small Furnace 2'. I managed to get past both the checkpoints after more carefully checking what I had against the requirement.

Also, it was not clear, but was it necessary to use bots to place down the item? By happenstance, I believe my bots placed the required items down, but would I have met the criteria if I had placed the proper items down by hand?

Yes, you can do it by hand or by bot. Any method that properly updates the in game production statistics will work.