Meta is tapping top talent into robotics efforts, including the leader behind its smart glasses

Meta is intensifying its efforts in robotics by onboarding top AI professionals and transitioning a pivotal leader from its hardware division to this emerging team. Li-Chen Miller, who previously spearheaded the company's smart glasses projects, including the innovative Orion augmented reality prototypes, has been appointed as the inaugural product manager for the newly established Robotics group within Reality Labs. In an internal announcement shared on LinkedIn, Miller expressed her excitement about this new chapter, stating, "Wrapping up our 2025 launches, it feels weird to leave Wearables, but I'm truly pumped to go be the first PM on RL's Robotics team - bring it on, RoboCats of the future." This move underscores Meta's commitment to advancing robotics technology. Earlier this year, Meta formed a dedicated unit within Reality Labs, led by former Cruise CEO Marc Whitten, focused on the development of humanoid robots designed to assist with everyday household tasks, according to Bloomberg. Currently, the company has around 40 job openings related to robotics on its careers page, which include positions for a director of robotics product operations, an AI research scientist, and various software engineering roles. Miller's announcement followed shortly after the company's annual developer keynote, Meta Connect, where they revealed a new version of their smart glasses priced at $799, alongside updates to existing Ray-Ban models. Known for her significant contributions to Meta's hardware strategies, Miller previously worked at Microsoft on several initiatives, including Xbox. She joined Meta after impressing Alex Himel, the former head of wearables, with a compelling email outlining enhancements for Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses. In addition to Miller, Meta's robotics team has attracted other prominent figures, such as MIT roboticist Sangbae Kim, recognized by Meta's CTO Andrew Bosworth as a leading expert in tactical robotics, and Jinsong Yu, the software architect for Orion. The robotics engineering team is led by Ning Li, a veteran at Meta since February. This robotics initiative aligns with Meta's broader aspirations in artificial intelligence. The new group is part of Reality Labs, which is responsible for the company's augmented and virtual reality hardware and continues to be a significant investment area. Internally, Meta is working on a humanoid robot referred to as "Metabot." Bosworth indicated that the company's new Superintelligence Lab, led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, is collaborating with the robotics team to create a "world model" that will enable advanced dexterous movements in their robots. Meta has not yet responded to inquiries from Business Insider regarding this development.