Faraday Future and its sister company, FF EAI Robotics Ecosystem (FFR), launched two humanoid robots on 15 October: the $2,490 FF Nova and the $299 FF Nova Mini. The companies call Nova the first embodied AI humanoid robot sold in the US for under $2,500. TNW has not independently verified the claim.
Nova is aimed at developers, universities and schools. It has 20 degrees of freedom and can walk, wave, get back up after being knocked over, and ride on a detachable wheeled base. The robot is 49.7cm tall, weighs 2.8kg and supports ROS 2 , and a developer software package costs an extra $390. A training programme built on Nvidia Isaac lets developers teach the robot skills in simulation before testing them on Nova.
Nova will roll out in three phases. The first phase is limited to 100 units for invited developers and schools, and 20 of them are ready to ship now. Wider developer sales and a full consumer launch will follow, but the companies gave no dates.
Nova Mini weighs under 1kg, can walk, stand up on its own and do a forward roll, and it supports block-based programming. FF also sells a $499 course of 16 live online classes, and buyers get a voucher towards the robot. FFR chief executive Jerry Wang said the launch marks an important step in bringing Physical AI from the laboratory to real-world applications.
The launch comes days after FFR agreed to buy FF's robotics business in an all-stock deal that values it at about $200M. FF would own about 65.7% of FFR after the deal closes, which the companies expect by the end of October. FFR was known as AIxCrypto Holdings until 30 September. FF, best known for its electric cars, began its move into robotics earlier this year, and its robotics unit had shipped 817 units by the end of September, according to Investing.com.