Amazon buys Fauna Robotics, maker of the Sprout humanoid robot

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NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon has acquired Fauna Robotics, just under two months after the startup introduced a humanoid robot called Sprout designed to be a friendly addition to social spaces like homes and schools.

The e-commerce giant is already a robotics powerhouse, having boasted of deploying more than 1 million robots across its warehouse operations, but bringing the 1.5-foot-tall, rectangular-headed Sprout on board adds a robot that's more about fun interactions than heavy lifting.

Fauna CEO Rob Cochran said on social media he was “incredibly excited to share that Fauna Robotics has officially joined the Amazon family” and said the New York-based firm will now “operate as Fauna Robotics, an Amazon company.”

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Amazon said the company's founders and employees will join Amazon in New York and will be looking for "new ways to make our customers’ lives better and easier.”

Fauna's debut product, launched in January, is a software developer platform more than just a robot, sold to academic and corporate research laboratories that are exploring robotics in the home. Early customers included Disney.

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.

Amazon, which also makes the artificial intelligence assistant Alexa that's already present in many homes, has had some challenges in recent years in expanding into consumer robotics.

Amazon called off its purchase of robot vacuum maker iRobot in 2024 after facing regulatory hurdles in Europe and the United States.