Meta is intensifying its push into robotics by bringing in key hardware leadership and expanding its engineering team, signaling a strategic shift toward building physical AI systems. Li-Chen Miller, who previously led Meta’s smart glasses initiative—including the development of the prototype Orion augmented reality glasses—has been named the first product manager for the company’s newly formed Robotics group within Reality Labs. Miller shared the news in an internal post and on LinkedIn, writing, “Wrapping up our 2025 launches, it feels weird to leave Wearables,” but adding, “I’m truly pumped to go be the first PM on RL's Robotics team — bring it on, RoboCats of the future.” Her move comes just days after Meta’s annual Meta Connect event, where the company unveiled its first pair of $799 smart glasses with a built-in display and updated versions of its Ray-Ban smart glasses. Miller’s appointment underscores Meta’s growing commitment to robotics. Earlier this year, the company created a dedicated robotics division under Reality Labs, led by Marc Whitten, the former CEO of Cruise. The goal is to develop humanoid robots capable of performing physical tasks in homes and workplaces. As of this week, Meta had around 40 robotics-related job openings on its careers site. Roles include a director of robotics product operations, an AI research scientist focused on data-driven robotics paradigms, and multiple software engineering positions. The company is actively recruiting top talent to build the foundation for its long-term robotics vision. Miller, a well-known figure in Meta’s hardware division, joined the company after reaching out directly to Alex Himel, then head of wearables, with a detailed proposal for improving the Ray-Ban smart glasses. Before Meta, she worked at Microsoft on Xbox and other consumer products. Her appointment follows the hiring of several high-profile robotics experts. Among them is Sangbae Kim, a renowned MIT roboticist whom Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth described as “the greatest tactical roboticist in the game right now.” Jinsong Yu, the software architect behind Orion, also joined the robotics team. Ning Li, a 15-year Meta veteran, now leads the robotics engineering team, a role she began in February. Meta’s robotics initiative is closely tied to its broader AI strategy. The company is developing a humanoid robot internally known as “Metabot.” According to The Verge, Meta’s new Superintelligence Lab—led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang—is collaborating with the robotics team to create a “world model” that could enable robots to understand and interact with complex environments with dexterity and autonomy. While Reality Labs continues to operate at a significant financial loss, Meta is betting that integrating AI with physical systems will be the next frontier. The robotics team’s progress could help the company transition from virtual experiences to tangible, real-world AI applications.