Amazon forms personal robotics group to build new home humanoid
Amazon is creating a new group centered on Fauna Robotics to develop a home humanoid robot. The initiative redeployed the Astro team and aims to compete with Tesla's Optimus, with internal deployment expected first.
Amazon is forming a personal robotics group to build a new home robot, centered on Fauna Robotics and its Sprout Humanoid. Fauna Robotics was acquired by Amazon in March of this year. The Sprout Humanoid is approximately one meter tall and weighs 22 kilos. Amazon redeployed its Astro team into this new group to accelerate development. The design, price, and release date of the new robot are currently undisclosed. Amazon's previous robot, Astro, launched in 2021 at a price of $1,450 and was invite-only with a few thousand customers.
The new robot is expected to compete with Tesla's Optimus. Analysts suggest it will likely be deployed in Amazon's own warehouses and factories first to allow for rapid iteration before consumer rollout. The speaker is bullish on Amazon's robotics plans, arguing that Amazon's scale and internal deployment capabilities guarantee success. This strategy leverages Amazon's existing infrastructure to refine the technology in controlled environments. The formation of this group signals a significant expansion of Amazon's hardware portfolio beyond its current logistics and consumer devices.