(Bloomberg)-Meta Platforms Inc. (Meta), after entering augmented reality and artificial intelligence, has identified his next major bet: AI-driven humanoid robots.
The company makes an important investment in the category – futuristic robots that can behave as people and can help with physical tasks – and forms a new team within its reality labs hardware division to perform the work, according to people with knowledge of the case .
Meta is planning to work on his own humanoid robothardware, with a first focus on household tasks. The greater ambition is to make the underlying AI, sensors and software for robots that will be manufactured and sold by different companies, said that the people who asked not to be identified because the initiative was not announced.
Meta has started discussing his plan with robotics companies, including Unitree Robotics and Figure AI Inc. In the first instance, it is not going to build a meta-brand robot-IS that immediately the Optimus of Tesla Inc. Could match but it could consider doing this in the future, the people added.
The humanoid effort reflects exploratory projects with other technological giants, including Apple Inc. And the Google DeepMind Division of Alphabet Inc. A meta spokesperson refused to comment.
Meta confirmed the creation of the new team to employees on Friday and told them that it will be led by Marc Whitten, who resigned earlier this month as Chief Executive Officer of the Cruise Self-Diving Car Division by General Motors Co. He was previously a director of Gaming Company Unity Software Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
“The nuclear technologies in which we have already invested and built in Reality Labs and AI are complementary to developing the progress needed for robotics,” wrote Andrew Bosworth, Chief Technology Officer of Meta, in a memo assessed by Bloomberg News. He mentioned the progress of the company in hand, computer use at low bandwidth and always on sensors.
Meta managers are of the opinion that although humanoid robotics companies have made progress in hardware, the progress of meta in artificial intelligence and data collected from augmented and virtual reality devices can accelerate progress in the budding industry. Current humanoids are still not useful enough to fold clothes, wear a glass of water, place dishes in a rack for cleaning or holding other home carpes that can let consumers be interested in the category.
“We believe that expanding our portfolio to invest in this area will only build value for Meta AI and our mixed and augmented reality programs,” wrote Bosworth. Whits, who will report to Bosworth, will have a workforce this year to hire around 100 engineers, one of the people said.
Meta’s goal is to offer what the Android operating system of Google and the Chips of Qualcomm Inc. Did for the telephone industry by laying a foundation for the rest of the market.
The software, sensors and computer packages that Meta is already developing for its devices are the same technologies needed to power humanoids, according to one of the people involved in the project.
Meta has been investing billions of dollars in its reality Labs Hardware division for years, which sells products such as the Quest VR headset and the increasingly popular Ray-Ban smart glasses. Meta is planning to spend $ 65 billion this year on related products, including artificial intelligence infrastructure and the new robot work.
Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk has said that the Optimus robot of his company will ultimately be sold to consumers and could cost around $ 30,000. Tesla is starting a limited production this year. Other companies have also made progress. Boston Dynamics, for example, has already launched products for automation in warehouses. Some companies are aimed at selling to companies and manufacturers, while the intention of Meta is to sell in houses.
Humanoids are an evolution of the work companies that have done in autonomous vehicles. They use similar underlying technologies and require large amounts of data and AI processing. But although the security inserts are lower – the house of a person roam instead of traveling 50 miles per hour on an open road – believe meta leaders that humanoids are challenging because each person’s house has a different layout, while city streets are reasonably standardized.
Meta will build some of its own hardware, use ready-made components and work with existing manufacturers as quickly as possible, said people with knowledge of the project. They added that building prototypes and hardware is crucial for testing prior to implementing a platform, even if Meta itself ultimately does not release a brand product.
The company Pitchen its work as the favorite platform for robot development, one of the people said, adding that the goal was to create Meta’s Lama software a basis for robotics researchers around the world.
Meta will also try to develop tools for robot safety, with regard to possible dangers such as someone’s hand trapped in an actuator or another part of a humanoid robot. There are also problems with regard to the safety of the current, such as how a robot is put down or stops the functioning of the middle task if it no longer has power.
While the official push in humanoid robots is new to Meta, the stock exchange of the company or the fundamental AI research group has been investigating and published about robotics work for months. Apple recently started publishing AI papers with regard to robotics work.
One person with knowledge of the project said that Meta believes that humanoids are still a few years away from being generally available and it can take years before the company’s platform is ready to support third-party products. But it will be an important focus for Meta and the wider technical industry, the person said.
Meta -Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty images. Allison Robbert-Pool/Getty images The 10 richest…
