Amazon has just confirmed that it has acquired Fauna Robotics, a two-year-old startup specializing in developing children's-sized humanoid robots for the family environment.
Fauna Robotics was founded by former engineers from Meta and Google, focusing on building robots capable of interacting closely with humans in living spaces. After the merger, the entire team will join Amazon in New York.
Amazon representatives said the company is attracted by the vision of creating safe, useful and friendly robots suitable for ordinary users.
The company expects to combine existing robot experience with a consumer device platform to open up new applications in daily life.
Previously, Fauna Robotics had started handing over the first product named Sprout to several research partners. This is a two-legged robot weighing about 27kg, designed as a physical assistant that can support simple tasks in the family.
Notably, this is Amazon's second robot deal in just one month. Previously, the company also acquired Rivr, a startup based in Zurich famous for its stair climbing delivery robot.
This series of moves shows that Amazon is accelerating investment in the consumer robotics sector, a market that is forecast to be fiercely competitive in the next decade, as physical assistants gradually become an extension of the smart home ecosystem.
