Key Takeaways
- Meta is making a bold move into AI-driven humanoid robots, aiming to ease everyday household tasks as part of its continued investment in augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
- A new team in Meta’s Reality Labs, led by Marc Whitten under CTO Andrew Bosworth, is set to develop these advanced robots
- Although competitors like Tesla with its Optimus robot are already in the race, global rollout is still a few years away.
After its recent ventures into augmented reality and artificial intelligence, Meta is now all set to change the face of humanoid robots through aggressive investments. Humanoid robots act like humans and help with physical tasks.
These advancements are expected to be capable enough to do tasks like folding clothes, carrying a glass of water, or placing dishes in the dishwashers. Basically, the kind of an assistant that’ll get your tedious work out of the way for you.
While the initial plan is focused on making these humanoids capable enough to assist in household chores, there isn’t any concrete news about whether we’re gonna get a Meta-branded robot or whether it’s just going to be making sensors and software for other companies to manufacture and sell.
One thing’s for sure, Meta will be what Google was for Android operating systems and Qualcomm was for chips. It aims to build a foundation for the market to follow, gaining a significant first-mover advantage if it is successful.
Meta, however, isn’t truly the first one to enter this space though, Tesla is already working on Optimus – a $30,000 humanoid that will soon be available in the market.
Other companies include Boston Dynamics, a B2B targeted AI company, that makes humanoid robots for automation in business warehouses. This one isn’t a direct competitor of Meta, as Meta intends to sell directly to customers.
Discussions with robotics companies like Unitree Robotics and Figure AI Inc. are already taking rounds. It’ll be interesting to see how Meta and Tesla accommodate themselves in this space now as Tesla’s Optimus robot is already steps ahead in terms of development.
Musk has even gone on to say that the population of humanoid robots will surpass that of humans by 2040 – seems like a far-fetched fantasy to me!
According to insiders, Meta has formed a new team within its Reality Labs hardware division to lead this effort. The team shall be under the leadership of Marc Whitten, who recently resigned from the position of chief executive officer of General Motors Co., where he led the company’s Cruise self-driving car division.
Whitten will reportedly hire around 100 engineers for this project and will report to Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s Chief Technology officer.
The core technologies we’ve already invested in and built across Reality Labs and AI are complementary to developing the advancements needed for robotics. – Andrew Bosworth, Meta CTO
In a way, these humanoids are an evolved version of the AI autonomous vehicles – with one major difference being they’ll roam inside a person’s house instead of on the roads. Meta Executives pointed out that humanoids are more challenging in this aspect as roads are fairly standardized but the layout of the home differs from person to person.
In addition to this, Meta will also work to develop tools that address possible dangers like someone’s hand getting caught in the humanoid or power struggles in the device that could lead to mid-operation shutdown.
While humanoids will surely be one of the major focuses for Meta in the upcoming years, we’re still a couple of years away from humanoids becoming available worldwide.
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