Meta announced its new robotic initiative. The company is rather than producing hardware to develop a humanoid robot. A software -oriented platform plans to create. The name of this study is within the company Metabot is referred to as.
META’s technology director Andrew Bosworth announced this year that a robotic research unit was established with the guidance of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Bosworth, although hardware is difficult, the real bottleneck is the software, he said. In addition, the fact that the fine grip movements cannot be managed correctly by the software stands out as the biggest problem of the robots. Speaking over a glass of a glass on the table, Bosworth stressed that the robots were likely to break a glass, even though he was able to run a glass. For this reason, meta is working on software models that can control sensitive movements.
Bosworth said that Meta will not only focus on hardware development and that the main goal is to license the software platform. This approach is likened to the software model that Google applies on smartphones. In other words, the company wants to provide the spine of the software used mostly from the robots produced. Thus, Meta will be able to offer its own software to the robots that will be developed by different manufacturers. Meta developed by this method Metabot The platform can be adopted by different manufacturers.
Meta follows a new path by taking the software in the robotic field
This initiative of Meta is carried out with a strong staff. Former Cruise CEO Marc Whitten was appointed head of the robotic unit. In addition to Sangbae Kim from MIT, experienced engineers such as Jinsong Yu and Ning Li were included in the project. This team is working on robotic control systems, sensor technologies and simulation infrastructures. In addition, hardware solutions offered by companies such as Nvidia and Qualcomm are also evaluated in the project. Thus, meta aims to make the software infrastructure compatible with the hardware side.
The artificial intelligence laboratory established by Meta also supports this project. The world model developed here focuses on simulating the sensitive hand movements of robots through software. Thanks to this model, a robot can take the key from its pocket. The company’s goal is to complete this software infrastructure to use Metabot to be used by different manufacturers. Thus, meta plans to move to a position with a say in the software layer in the robotic ecosystem.
The competition in the robotic area is increasingly intensified. Tesla continues to develop Humanoid robot as Optimus, while Google and other technology companies are making similar investments. The difference of Meta is that it takes the software to the center and is not directly involved in hardware production. This approach contributes to the development of the software infrastructure necessary for the use of robots in home and work environments in the future. For this reason, the Metabot program of Meta is seen as a new step in the combination of artificial intelligence and robotics.