Meta has built a working humanoid robot prototype with the help of a Chinese robotics company, according to a new report, giving Mark Zuckerberg’s AI empire its first physical body. The robot, developed with Shanghai-based Fourier Intelligence in about three months, is internally codenamed “Max”, The Information reported on October 31.

The news, which Reuters relayed while noting it could not immediately verify the prototype details, marks the most concrete step yet in Meta’s push into home robotics, a division the company set up early last year under the name Meta Robotics Studio.

What Was Reported

According to The Information’s reporting, Meta did not simply license a Fourier robot. The companies built Max together over roughly three months, customizing the height, proportions, head, display, cameras, hands and shoes, drawing on Fourier’s hardware experience from three generations of its own humanoids. Meta’s vice president of product for robotics, Li-Chen Miller, reportedly spent nearly two months at Fourier’s factory in Shanghai working on the prototype, and Meta showed Max to some employees at an internal robotics summit in late August.

Max is designed around household interaction. It stands about 1.5 meters tall (just under five feet), weighs roughly 48 kilograms (106 pounds), and runs on NVIDIA’s Jetson Thor computing platform for robots. It has five-fingered hands built to pick up small objects such as bottles and toys, built-in speakers, and a screen for a face that can show expressions, including eye and mouth movements.

A Meta spokesperson pushed back on any suggestion of a product launch, telling The Information that the collaboration is for internal research. “This effort with Fourier is focused on internal research and experimentation, and we have no plans to sell these units,” the spokesperson said.

Meta spokesperson quote on the Fourier humanoid collaboration
Graphic: GPTOnline

Max 2 Is Already in the Works

The project did not stop at one prototype. The Information reports that work on Max 2 began in September, with plans for a redesigned torso, improved hands, a projector and additional sensors to help the robot handle stairs better. Meta is also reportedly recruiting robotics engineers in Shanghai and Shenzhen, with roles covering prototype development and preparations for potential large-scale manufacturing.

There is no launch date for any Meta humanoid, and the company has not said whether it ever plans to sell one.

Max at a glance: key facts about Meta's reported humanoid robot prototype
Graphic: GPTOnline

Why It Matters

The deeper significance is not a product but a platform bet. Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth has described humanoid robots internally as a potential physical embodiment of Muse, Meta’s consumer AI agent, according to the report. In other words, the same assistant that lives on your phone and in your Ray-Ban glasses could one day walk around your home and pick up a dropped toy.

That ambition puts Meta on a collision course with Tesla, Figure and a wave of well-funded humanoid startups. The humanoid robot market is valued at roughly $6 billion in 2026 and is projected to grow to between $50 billion and $200 billion by 2035, The Hindu reported.

The China connection adds a political edge. In July 2026, the US Federal Communications Commission barred imports of new models of Chinese humanoid robots, citing supply-chain and national-security concerns, NDTV noted. Meta’s spokesperson responded that sourcing parts that are difficult to obtain domestically “is a reality the entire industry faces.” The timing also overlaps with a deepening Meta-NVIDIA alliance: NVIDIA agreed last week to invest $3 billion in Meta as part of a broader partnership.

Meta’s robotics ambitions have been building for a while. Bloomberg reported last year that the company created a new team to build robot hardware for household chores, and Meta acquired Assured Robot Intelligence in May 2026. Fourier, founded in 2015 in Shanghai, started in rehabilitation robotics before pivoting to humanoids, launching the GR-1 in 2023, the GR-2 in 2024 and the GR-3 “care-bot” in August 2025.

What Remains Unconfirmed

A note of caution applies. The Information’s report rests on people familiar with the project, and Meta has released no photos, video or technical benchmarks for Max. The report identifies no independently verified capabilities beyond the stated design targets. For now, the most reliable official word is the company’s own: this is research, not a product announcement.

Sources