Amazon Acquires Second Robotics Startup This Month, Adding Kid-Size Humanoid Robots

Fauna Robotics was founded in 2024 by former Meta and Google engineers. Amazon acquired the New York-based startup just under two months after it introduced Sprout, a humanoid robot designed to be a friendly addition to social spaces like homes and schools — a robot more about fun interactions than heavy lifting.

The $50,000 Sprout can't lift heavy objects, but it can dance the Twist or the Floss, grab a toy block or teddy bear, or hoist itself from a chair and take a stroll. Fauna's debut product, launched in January, is a software developer platform sold to academic and corporate research laboratories exploring robotics in the home, with early customers that included Disney.

Fauna CEO Rob Cochran said on social media he was "incredibly excited to share that Fauna Robotics has officially joined the Amazon family" and that the firm will now "operate as Fauna Robotics, an Amazon company." Fauna's roughly 50 employees will join Amazon, and the company will continue deploying Sprout to outside researchers. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Fauna had raised at least $30 million from Kleiner Perkins, Quiet Capital and Lux Capital. The company was founded in 2024 and moved quickly: Sprout is a 42-inch-tall robot with arms and legs that can interact with people, walk, grip items and dance, with the first units deploying to research and development partners in January.

This is Amazon's second robotics acquisition, at least that is publicly known, this month. Amazon also acquired Rivr, a Swiss robotics company developing machines for "doorstep delivery," confirmed just last week. Rivr's technology, which includes a four-legged robot on wheels, is being evaluated for helping delivery associates carry packages from vehicles to customer doorsteps. Amazon quietly purchased Rivr without a public announcement, informing delivery contractors through a private notice.

Amazon, which also makes the AI assistant Alexa, has had some challenges in recent years expanding into consumer robotics. The company called off its purchase of robot vacuum maker iRobot in 2024 after facing regulatory hurdles in Europe and the United States. Amazon launched the Astro home robot in 2021, which has seen limited traction.

An Amazon spokesperson framed the Fauna deal in terms of its devices and retail legacy. "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," the spokesperson said.

Amazon has demonstrated humanoid-like technology for package fulfillment and warehouse-related purposes, but Fauna's technology would likely be aimed specifically at the consumer robotics market. If Amazon launches a humanoid product, it would compete with major in-the-works projects like the Tesla Optimus, the Figure AI robot, and offerings from Boston Dynamics, while Apple, Meta Platforms, and Alphabet's Google have all also expressed interest in the field.