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Meta is placing a significant focus on humanoid robotics, with plans to invest heavily in the initiative, according to a senior executive.
During a recent interview at Meta’s headquarters, Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth revealed that the company has initiated a robotics “research effort” under CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s guidance. Although the team’s formation has been previously mentioned, Bosworth elaborated on its goals and strategy for the first time.
Bosworth expressed that while hardware development poses challenges, it is the software that presents the greater obstacle. “The bottleneck is the software,” he stated just prior to Meta’s recent Connect conference.
He illustrated the difficulties of robotic dexterity by picking up a glass of water. “If you know robotics, one of the biggest problems is dexterous manipulation,” he noted. He pointed out that while robots can perform stable maneuvers like running or flipping, pouring a glass of water would often end in catastrophe—spilling or crushing the container.
“The bottleneck is the software.”
Meta is developing its own humanoid robot, referred to internally as the “Metabot,” but Bosworth mentioned a broader vision where the company would license its software to other robotics manufacturers. “I’m not concerned about being a hardware manufacturer,” he commented, comparing this strategy to Google, which licenses its software to smartphone producers. “As long as your robot meets these specs, you can use our software blueprint,” he explained.
In collaboration with Meta’s new Superintelligence AI lab, the robotics team aims to construct a “world model” to facilitate the necessary software simulation for animating complex hand movements. Bosworth highlighted the absence of a “sensor loop” that would enable a humanoid to retrieve objects with the same finesse as a human, such as extracting keys from a pocket. “You must create that data set,” he said, emphasizing the task ahead.
“We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t have the lab,” Bosworth stated, referring to the efforts led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang.
Discussing the robotics landscape, Bosworth noted the competition among companies like Nvidia and Qualcomm to establish the foundational silicon for humanoid robots. He expressed that Meta is carefully weighing its options in this regard. Although he likened the robotics initiative to Meta’s multi-billion-dollar investments in augmented reality, he suggested that advanced dexterity, similar to what Tesla’s Optimus aims for, may not be essential for Meta’s version of a humanoid.
“I don’t think you need 23 degrees of freedom in your hand. Two thumbs would be nice. I only need two thumbs,” he concluded.
