Meta has deepened its stake in the robotics intelligence race.
The social networking giant has acquired Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI), Xiaolong Wang, the startup’s cofounder, said in an X post on Friday. ARI is a small San Diego-based startup with about 20 employees.
Meta and AIX Ventures, which was the first institutional investor to commit to ARI when it was founded last May, confirmed the news to Business Insider. Bloomberg first reported the acquisition.
“We acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, a company at the frontier of robotic intelligence designed to enable robots to understand, predict, and adapt to human behaviors in complex and dynamic environments,” a Meta spokesperson said.
ARI is developing AI models that will power humanoid robots.
Nick Crance, a partner at AIX Ventures, told Business Insider that the startup is focused on high-precision dexterity and manipulation in robotics. Dexterity and manipulation cover a robot’s ability to physically interact with real-world objects. Both elements are crucial to making robots useful, whether that’s in industrial settings or at home.
The startup is led by two “world-class roboticists,” Crance said.
Cofounders Wang and Lerrel Pinto both have academic backgrounds. Wang was a researcher at Nvidia and is a member of the electrical and computer engineering faculty at the University of California, San Diego. Pinto, who is also CEO of ARI, cofounded Fauna Robotics and is a computer science professor at New York University.
ARI is not the only startup focused on robotics intelligence.
Startups like Physical Intelligence, Generalist AI, and Genesis AI are focused on the intelligence layer, or the brains, of robots rather than the hardware. Their AI systems are designed to help robots of various form factors, including humanoids, perform across different environments.
Meta’s acquisition of ARI is another indication of the company’s push toward robotics. In 2025, Meta formed a robotics group within its Reality Labs division, according to a memo obtained by Business Insider.
Since then, the company has tapped new leadership and expanded its hardware team for Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). MSL is a separate division from Reality Labs. Both are increasingly becoming intertwined through AI hardware and robotics.
AIX Ventures and Meta declined to comment on the size of the acquisition.