Fauna CEO Rob Cochrane and the Sprout robot.
Provided by: Fauna Robotics
Amazon The company announced Tuesday that it has acquired Fauna Robotics, a startup that develops “friendly” humanoid robots for consumers and businesses. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We are excited about Fauna’s vision to develop capable, safe and fun robots for everyone,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. “With Amazon’s robotics expertise and decades of experience earning customer trust at home through our retail and device businesses, we look forward to inventing new ways to make our customers’ lives better and easier.”
Bloomberg first reported on the deal.
Fauna Robotics was founded in 2024 by former employees. meta and google engineer. Earlier this year, the New York-based company launched Sprout, a $50,000 bipedal robot that stands 3 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 50 pounds, and is designed to be not only “approachable and human-friendly,” but also “truly accessible” to software developers.
The company stated this at the time of signing the contract. disney Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics was also an early customer.
Approximately 50 Fauna employees will join Amazon in New York. Rob Cochran, co-founder and CEO of Fauna, said in a post on LinkedIn that he is “incredibly excited” that Fauna is joining Amazon.
“We are excited about what joining the Amazon team means for our future,” Cochran wrote. “We will now proudly operate as Fauna Robotics, an Amazon company.”
Amazon has been investing in robotics for more than a decade, primarily for warehousing applications. The company acquired Kiva Systems in 2012 for $775 million, forming the basis of Amazon Robotics, a division focused on warehouse automation.
The company has once again turned to M&A to strengthen its robotics expertise. Amazon announced last week that it had acquired River, a Swiss robotics company that develops machines for “doorstep delivery.”
Amazon said it wants to leverage its knowledge of robotics and long history in retail and equipment to better understand the potential of personal robots to make customers’ lives better and easier.
The company has experimented with home robots before. In 2021, Amazon launched a crouching, moving personal robot called Astro. Priced at $1,600, the device is available by invitation only.
By acquiring Fauna, Amazon will enter the increasingly crowded humanoid robot market. tesla is developing a humanoid robot called Optimus and plans to manufacture them at a factory in Fremont, California.
CEO Elon Musk announced in January that the company would convert the old production line for its flagship models, the Model S and Model X, into the Optimus factory, with the goal of producing “1 million units a year.”
Other humanoid competitors include California-based 1X, Figure AI, Apptronik, Agility Robotics, and China-based Unitree.
—CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
