The Rundown: Meta built a humanoid to do your chores

Posted on November 2, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
🤖 Meta built a humanoid to do your choresImage source: Fourier (Fourier’s GR-3 humanoid)

The Rundown: Meta built a five-foot humanoid robot prototype called Max to perform household chores, and it took the company just three months, with help from Chinese robotics firm Fourier, The Information reports.

The details:The prototype gives Meta a physical platform for training and testing AI systems that can perceive, move, and manipulate objects in the real world. Max weighs about 106 lb. and stands 5ft tall, with a display that shows facial expressions, a built-in speaker, and hands designed to pick up small objects.Max reportedly runs on Nvidia’s Jetson Thor, a Blackwell-based robotics computer with up to 2,070 FP4 TFLOPS and 128GB of memory at 130W. Meta has reportedly been building Max 2 since Sept., with a redesigned torso and hands, a projector, and extra sensors to handle stairs.

Why it matters: Bloomberg reported last year that Meta had set up a team to build robot hardware, and this year Meta bought a startup that develops AI for robots. Max is the first physical machine reported from that effort, and Meta built it with a Chinese partner to compete with humanoids like Tesla’s Optimus.
WALMART🦾 Walmart commits $6B to warehouse robotsImage source: Symbotic

The Rundown: Walmart is putting a whopping $6B more behind Symbotic’s warehouse automation, a vote of confidence in purpose-built AI machines — not humanoids — to speed up its supply chain.

The details: Walmart has committed $6B in additional spending on Symbotic systems, including deployments across 25 U.S. regional distribution centers.Symbotic automates the warehouse core: storing cases, moving inventory, picking goods, and building outbound loads. Walmart is also funding $125M in new R&D around picking, racking, and inventory flow. Symbotic already has billions in Walmart-linked work, plus a separate deal that could bring its systems to hundreds of Walmart stores.Amazon has deployed more than 1M robots, while AutoStore and Ocado are scaling their own highly automated warehouse systems.

Why it matters: The $6B deal comes just weeks after a WSJ report detailed Walmart’s automation headaches, from cartons its machines can’t handle to robots that break down too often. Walmart’s response: “New technology is never perfect on day one.” Still, it’s spending billions to push the technology forward.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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