Meta acquires humanoid robotics startup Assured Robot Intelligence

Staff Report: PNN

Social media giant Meta has acquired humanoid robotics startup Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI). However, the financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

In an email statement to TechCrunch, a Meta spokesperson said:
“We have acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, a company at the forefront of robotic intelligence. It is developing technology that will enable robots to understand, predict, and adapt to human behavior in complex and changing environments.”

The entire team of the startup, including its co-founders, will join Meta’s artificial intelligence division Superintelligence Labs. ARI had previously received funding from AI-focused investment firm AIX Ventures, though the amount was not disclosed.

ARI was primarily developing foundation models that would enable humanoid robots to perform various physical tasks, such as household work. Co-founder Xiaolong Wang previously worked as a researcher at NVIDIA and was an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego. He has received several prestigious awards.

Another co-founder, Lerrel Pinto, previously taught at New York University and co-founded Fauna Robotics, a company building child-sized robots, before it was acquired by Amazon. He has also received multiple research awards.

Meta has long been working on humanoid robotics technology. A leaked internal document from a year ago showed the company’s plan to develop consumer-oriented robots powered by artificial intelligence and hardware integration.

Experts believe that achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI) will require not only data but also learning through real-world interaction via robots. In other words, robots will need to learn by interacting directly with their environment.

Acquisitions like ARI and Fauna indicate rapidly increasing competition in the robotics sector. Analysts estimate the market size varies widely—some predict it could reach $38 billion by 2035, while others project it could grow to $5 trillion by 2050. This wide gap reflects both the potential and uncertainty of the technology.