Amazon just bought a startup making kid-size humanoid robots

Amazon has confirmed that it has acquired Fauna Robotics, a two-year-old startup founded by former Meta and Google engineers who are developing kid-size humanoid robots.

The acquisition was first reported by Bloomberg. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. What we do know is that Fauna’s employees, including its two founders, will join Amazon in New York City.

“We are excited about Fauna’s vision to build capable, safe, and fun robots for everyone,” an Amazon spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. “Together with Amazon’s robotics expertise and decades of experience earning customer trust in the home through our retail and devices businesses, we’re looking forward to inventing new ways to make our customers’ lives better and easier.”

Fauna began shipping its first product, a 59-pound bipedal robot called Sprout, earlier this year to select research and development partners.

This is Amazon’s second robotics acquisition — at least, that we know about — this month. Amazon confirmed to TechCrunch earlier this month that it has also acquired Rivr, a Zurich-based autonomous robotics startup known for its stair-climbing delivery robot. Terms of that deal wasn’t disclosed either.