The humanoid robot market, considered a next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) trend, is growing as big tech companies join the race.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is creating a new division to develop AI-based humanoid robots, Bloomberg News reported on the 14th (local time). Meta Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Andrew Bosworth said in a recent internal memo that the company will "focus on research and development of consumer humanoid robots" with the goal of "maximizing the capabilities of the Lama platform."

Lama is Meta's AI model that is being applied to the company's social media platforms. The goal is to start by developing robots that can do household chores, and then create AI, sensors, and software that go into various robots.

Meta's humanoid robot team will be newly established within the Reality Labs division, which has been conducting research on the metaverse, including virtual reality headsets. Meta is reportedly in discussions with China's Unitree Robotics and US-based Figure AI, which is considered a rival to Tesla in the humanoid robot field.

The report came a day after news that Google had made a large investment in robotics developer Apptronik. Apptronik is also considered a competitor to Tesla and is developing a humanoid robot for industrial use called Apollo. Currently, Tesla is considered to be the most advanced in humanoid robot development, and Tesla plans to deploy its humanoid robot Optimus to its factories this year.

In addition, OpenAI included the "robot" field in the trademark registration application it submitted to the authorities late last month, specifying its intention to develop humanoid robots. Apple is reportedly researching both humanoid and non-humanoid robots to build a future smart home ecosystem.

At CES 2025, the world's largest consumer electronics and information technology (IT) exhibition held in Las Vegas last month, humanoid robots that act and think like humans attracted much attention. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said at the time, "The ChatGPT moment of robotics is coming," predicting a technological innovation that combines robots and AI, just as ChatGPT opened the era of generative AI.

In Korea, following Hyundai Motor, which acquired Boston Dynamics in 2021, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have recently acquired robot companies one after another, and telecommunication companies that have chosen AI as a future food are also showing interest in the robot business.

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