Meta develops humanoid prototype with Fourier, reportedly built in 3 months

Reuters reported on October 31, 2026, citing a report by The Information, that Meta developed a humanoid prototype with Chinese company Fourier. The Information reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that the unit took 3 months to build and that Meta is working on a second one. According to the report, Meta has no plans to sell the units.

If the report is accurate, Meta and Fourier’s collaboration is focused on developing prototypes, not units intended for sale. The report gives the build time and says work has begun on a second unit, but does not specify the companies’ respective roles or the units’ intended use. More information is needed to assess the scope of the collaboration.

The focus of the report is not that Meta developed a humanoid on its own, but that it built a prototype with Fourier and is working on a second unit. The build time is reported to be 3 months, but the report does not say which tasks each company handled or provide details on the unit’s specifications or testing. The short build time therefore cannot be taken as evidence of production capacity or speed to commercialization. The report that Meta does not plan to sell the units describes the status of the units mentioned, at least; it does not establish Meta’s overall strategy for its robotics business. Our coverage of Maxinsights raises $30 million to expand its data infrastructure for physical AI discussed the collection of real-world video, making it usable for models, and tactile data acquisition equipment. The current report concerns prototyping a robot itself, a different stage of development from building data infrastructure. However, the report does not say what data the companies used or how they connected the work to training or evaluation after the unit was built, so there is no basis to treat the two cases as parts of a single development system. From an industry perspective, the collaboration may indicate that a robotics company was involved as a means of developing prototypes, rather than selling finished products. But the division of responsibilities for design, component sourcing, control software and intellectual property is unknown. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the report, so it should be treated as an account based on people familiar with the matter. Key details to watch include the second unit’s specifications and progress, Fourier’s scope of work, the prototypes’ intended use and which units Meta does not plan to sell. Without those details, it is not possible to determine whether the collaboration will remain limited to research prototypes or continue in another form.