Meta acquires ARI to advance humanoid robotics and AI research

Sun, 03 May 2026 10:26:00 +0200

Meta has acquired Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI), a startup focused on developing advanced AI models for humanoid robots, as part of its broader push into robotics and artificial intelligence. Although the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Meta confirmed that ARI’s team, including co-founders Xiaolong Wang and Lerrel Pinto, will join its Superintelligence Labs research division. ARI has been working on foundation models designed to enable robots to understand, predict, and adapt to human behavior in complex, real-world environments. These models aim to allow humanoid robots to perform a wide range of physical tasks, such as household chores.

Both co-founders bring strong academic and industry credentials. Wang previously worked at Nvidia and served as a professor at UC San Diego, while Pinto taught at NYU and co-founded another robotics startup, Fauna Robotics, which was recently acquired by Amazon. Their expertise is expected to strengthen Meta’s efforts to build AI s