Meta acquires ‘robotics startup’ to boost its humanoid AI ambitions
Meta can use it to create artificial general intelligence (AGI) to train humanoid robots to surpass human-level intelligence.
Social media giant Meta has acquired humanoid robot startup Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI) for an undisclosed sum.
“We acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, a company at the frontier of robotic intelligence designed to enable robots to understand, predict, and adapt to human behaviors in complex and dynamic environments,” a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch in an emailed statement.
ARI’s team, including its co-founders, will join Meta’s AI unit, the Superintelligence Labs research division. ARI had raised an undisclosed seed round from AI seed firm AIX Ventures.
The startup has been building prototypes of humanoid robots designed to perform all kinds of physical labor, such as housework.
Co-founder Xiaolong Wang is a former Nvidia researcher and an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego, who has won numerous prestigious awards.
Co-founder Lerrel Pinto, a former professor at New York University and founder of Fauna Robotics, a child-sized humanoid startup acquired by Amazon last month, has also won numerous prestigious awards.
ARI will help Meta with its humanoid ambitions. “This team, led by Lerrel Pinto and Xiaolong Wang, will bring a deep expertise in how we can design our models and frontier capabilities for robot control and self-learning to whole-body humanoid control.”
Meta researchers have been working on humanoid robot technology for years. A leaked document a year ago outlined Meta’s ambitions to create such a robot, including artificial intelligence models and hardware for consumers.
The ARI and Fauna deals reflect a broader industry boom, with projections ranging from Goldman Sachs’s $38 billion by 2035 to Morgan Stanley’s $5 trillion by 2050. This disparity reflects both the enormous potential and the uncertainty surrounding technologies that are still finding their place.
Source:
Image:
