Meta Builds Humanoid Robot Prototype With Chinese Firm Fourier
Meta Builds Humanoid Robot Prototype With Chinese Firm Fourier
Meta has built a working humanoid robot prototype in collaboration with Chinese robotics company Fourier, according to a report published Saturday by The Information. The robot, developed under the internal codename Max, was assembled in approximately three months. The prototype is part of Meta's broader effort to develop humanoid robots capable of assisting with household tasks.
The development effort is part of a broader push by Meta into physical robotics. The company formed a dedicated hardware team last year, with the stated goal of building robots capable of performing household work. That effort has since expanded to include an AI acquisition and now a confirmed prototype.
What Max Can Do
Max stands approximately five feet tall and weighs around 106 pounds. The prototype carries a chest-mounted display capable of showing facial expressions, a built-in speaker, and five-fingered hands designed to grasp small objects. NVIDIA's Jetson Thor chips power the system internally, per the report.
The robot can recognize spoken commands and interpret hand gestures. It signals to users when it is in a listening or processing state.
Meta has not announced a launch date for a commercial humanoid robot. The company has characterized the current Max project as research and experimentation and says it has no plans to sell these units.
Max 2 Is Already in Development
Work on a successor prototype, codenamed Max 2, began in September, according to The Information. The updated design includes revised hand mechanics aimed at finer object manipulation. A projector has been added to display visual content. Additional sensors are intended to help the robot navigate stairs. The torso design is also being reworked.
The move to Max 2 within months of the original prototype shows the project is progressing through a rapid development cycle, with Meta and Fourier already testing changes to the robot's hands, torso and sensor package.
Meta told The Information: "This effort with Fourier is focused on internal research and experimentation, and we have no plans to sell these units."
The Road to a Robot Platform
Meta's robotics ambitions have been building for over a year. Bloomberg reported last year that the company created a new team tasked specifically with robot hardware development. Earlier this year, Meta acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, known as ARI, a startup building AI models for general-purpose humanoid robots.
ARI co-founder Xiaolong Wang described the company's technology as enabling robots to understand human behavior in dynamic environments. Meta has not detailed how ARI's work is integrated into the Max prototype.
According to The Information, Meta sees humanoid robots as a potential physical extension of its Muse AI agent, with household assistance among the company's longer-term goals.
The collaboration involved Meta's robotics team working directly with Fourier in China. The Information reports that robotics product VP Li-Chen Miller spent nearly two months at Fourier's Shanghai facility during development. The Max prototype was subsequently demonstrated to Meta employees at an internal robotics summit in late August.
The China Partnership and Trade Context
The collaboration with Fourier comes as U.S. restrictions on technology partnerships with Chinese firms have increased. Meta addressed the relationship directly in a statement to The Information.
A Meta spokesperson said the company faces the same component sourcing constraints as the rest of the industry when domestic supply is not available. The spokesperson described the Fourier effort as internal research and experimentation and stated that Meta has no plans to sell the units.
The Information's report did not specify whether the Meta-Fourier partnership is subject to any current regulatory review or export control. Fourier is a Shanghai-based humanoid robotics company.
Aaron Rose is the founder and publisher of Tech Reader Magazine, covering system architecture, cloud platforms, and AI policy.