Recent market reports indicate that Chinese robotics company Fourier has jointly developed a humanoid robot prototype called Max with Meta. The two parties completed the project in only about three months and have already begun research and development on a second-generation product.
According to reports, this robot stands approximately 1.5 meters tall and weighs about 48 kilograms. It is equipped with Nvidia's Jetson Thor chip, features a display capable of simulating facial expressions, speakers, and five-fingered dexterous hands that can grasp small objects.
The two sides launched development of the second-generation prototype, Max 2, in September of this year. They plan to redesign the torso structure, upgrade the dexterous hands, and add projectors and sensors to improve the robot's manipulation abilities and its capacity to navigate stairs.
For Fourier, this collaboration represents a new endeavor built on years of accumulated robotics technology.
Founded in 2015, Fourier initially started with medical rehabilitation robots, focusing primarily on developing exoskeleton robots and intelligent rehabilitation training equipment.
In 2019, Fourier began expanding into general-purpose humanoid robots and launched its first full-size humanoid robot, GR-1, in 2023. Since then, the company has successively introduced products including GR-2 and GR-3, expanding its application scenarios from medical rehabilitation to scientific research and education, commercial services, and elderly care companionship.
Fourier has long focused on close-range human-robot interaction and has accumulated technical capabilities in motion control, force feedback, dexterous manipulation, and human-robot interaction.
These capabilities may also have provided the foundation for Fourier to engage in joint research and development with overseas technology companies.
According to reports, Meta referenced the hardware designs of Fourier's first three generations of humanoid robots when developing Max, and adjusted the robot's size, body proportions, head structure, display, and cameras according to its own requirements.
Behind this collaboration, a new model of cooperation is emerging in the global embodied intelligence industry.
As AI large models continue to extend into the physical world, overseas technology giants like Meta have begun accelerating robot research and development, hoping to further apply their software and algorithm capabilities to real-world scenarios. Meanwhile, after years of development, Chinese embodied intelligence companies have formed a relatively complete industrial foundation in areas such as robot bodies, core components, software-hardware integration, and engineering manufacturing.
For overseas technology companies, collaborating with Chinese robotics companies allows them to leverage mature hardware platforms and supply chain systems to shorten product development and iteration cycles.
Similar collaborations have already appeared with other Chinese robotics companies.
In June of this year, Nvidia announced the launch of the Isaac GR00T humanoid robot reference platform for research institutions, integrating Unitree's H2 Plus humanoid robot, Sharpa's five-fingered dexterous hands, Nvidia's Jetson Thor computing platform, and the Isaac GR00T model and software tools to provide a humanoid robot development platform for research institutions worldwide.
In this collaboration, Unitree provides the robot body, while Nvidia provides AI computing, models, and development tools. Through software-hardware integration, the two parties provide researchers with a robot platform that can be used for model training, validation, and deployment.
These collaborations also reflect that cooperation between Chinese robotics companies and overseas technology giants is extending to deeper levels.
For overseas technology companies, collaborating with Chinese robotics companies allows them to leverage mature hardware platforms and supply chain systems to shorten product development and iteration cycles.
For Chinese embodied intelligence companies like Fourier, collaboration opportunities are also changing. In the past, Chinese robotics companies mainly expanded into overseas markets by selling products and providing solutions. Now they have the opportunity to participate earlier in the product development of overseas technology giants, and even jointly design next-generation robots based on the other party's technical requirements.
In the future, as more overseas technology companies enter the embodied intelligence field, the ways in which Chinese robotics companies participate in the global industrial chain are expected to further extend from product supply to joint research and development.
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