Meta Platforms has acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, a startup based in San Diego that develops AI software for robots. The financial terms were undisclosed. Co-founders Lerrel Pinto and Xiaolong Wang bring deep expertise in humanoid robotics and AI. Pinto previously co-founded Fauna Robotics (bought by Amazon in March), and Wang is a former Nvidia researcher and UCSD professor.
Last year, Wang demonstrated a system allowing users to control a robot's cameras through a VR headset, where head movements reposition the robot's camera view. This technology could integrate with Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses and Neural Band wristband for remote robot control.
The Assured Robot Intelligence team will join Meta's Superintelligence Labs, which includes the Meta Robotics Studio. Meta says it's not building its own humanoid robots but aims to supply components, software, and AI model architectures to other players-similar to Qualcomm's role in mobile. The company's MIA500 AI chip, an inference accelerator, could potentially be adapted for robotics.