Meta wants to become the Android of robotics

Assuming it can turn its Project Orion augmented reality glasses into a real product people can buy, Meta apparently wants to get into robots next. That's according to Sources' Alex Heath, who spoke to Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth and reports that much like Apple, Google and Tesla, Meta is researching robotics.

Unlike those other companies, though, Meta apparently isn't all that focused on competing in hardware. It has a "Metabot" in the works, but its real goal is to create software that other companies can license, much like Google does with Android. "Software is the bottleneck," according to Bosworth, and the hope is that the combined powers of Meta's robotics team — led by Marc Whitten, the former CEO of Cruise —  and its highly publicized Superintelligence Labs can produce a solution.

That work apparently starts with the development of a "world model" that can help a robot "do the software simulation required to animate a dexterous hand," but will presumably extend to more complicated movements and tasks down the road. In Feb 2025, Meta was reportedly looking at building a robot that could handle household chores like cleaning or folding laundry. Given how early everything sounds, that's likely a long way off.

Meta isn't alone in pursuing robotics. Apple is reportedly working on its own home robots, starting with a table-mounted arm with a display. Tesla has regularly demoed versions of its Optimus robot to the public, though often in highly-controlled scenarios. Meta has yet to realize its goal of usurping the smartphone with AR glasses. Whether or not it does, it sounds like robots will be the thing it burns money on next.