Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, a humanoid robotics startup, for an undisclosed sum on Friday, adding the team to its Superintelligence Labs research division as it advances its humanoid robotics ambitions.
The deal positions Meta directly in a rapidly commercializing humanoid robotics sector, where big tech, automakers and well-funded startups are competing to deploy physical AI at scale.
Founders With Deep Robotics Pedigree
ARI co-founder Lerrel Pinto previously taught at New York University and co-founded Fauna Robotics, a startup specializing in developing approachable, small-scale humanoid robots, which Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) acquired in March.
Co-founder Xiaolong Wang is an associate professor at UC San Diego and was previously a researcher at Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA).
Meta Superintelligence Labs head Alexandr Wang welcomed the ARI team on X, underscoring the division’s push into physical AI, an area Meta has been building toward for years.
This post was originally published here
