Meta buys robotic startup to bolster its humanoid AI ambitions

Meta has acquired Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI), a humanoid robotics startup, for an undisclosed sum. ARI's team, including co-founders Xiaolong Wang (formerly Nvidia/UC San Diego) and Lerrel Pinto (formerly NYU, co-founder of Fauna Robotics acquired by Amazon last month), will join Meta's Superintelligence Labs. ARI was building foundation models enabling humanoid robots to understand and adapt to human behaviors. The acquisition supports Meta's long-standing ambitions in consumer humanoid robotics and aligns with a broader industry belief that training AI in the physical world is key to achieving AGI. Market forecasts for humanoid robots range from $38B by 2035 to $5T by 2050.