Robot makers

Does OpenAI make robots?

Answered from the record

Not in the way people mean: OpenAI is not a robot manufacturer, and it has shipped no robot hardware. On DEPLOY's record there is no OpenAI robot you can buy and no robot model to point to. But OpenAI is building toward one: in May 2026 it announced an in-house robotics division, OpenAI Robotics, it ran an earlier robotics team that built the Dactyl hand, and it has backed the robot makers 1X, Figure AI, and Physical Intelligence.

✓ Last verified May 31, 202612 sources

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OpenAI makes AI models, not robots. On DEPLOY's record there is no OpenAI robot you can buy, and OpenAI ships no robot-shaped model at all. The honest answer is a qualified no, and it comes in three parts, each read from the record.

First, the direction of travel: in May 2026 Sam Altman announced an in-house robotics division called OpenAI Robotics, led by Aditya Ramesh, with the stated aim of bringing the intelligence of OpenAI's video and world models into physical robots. As of the announcement the division exists and is hiring, but it has shipped no hardware, and its strategy and timeline are stated aspirations attributed to OpenAI, not demonstrated outcomes.

Second, the history: OpenAI ran a robotics research team from around 2017 that built the Dactyl hand and solved a Rubik's cube one-handed in 2019, then disbanded that team around 2021.

Third, and most concrete, OpenAI has been a robotics investor rather than a maker: its venture arm led 1X Technologies' 2023 round and it has backed 1X again, Figure AI, and Physical Intelligence, each a dated, sourced funding round in the ledger below. So OpenAI shapes robots through its models and its money, but on the record it does not manufacture one.

Robot models it makes

Robot makers backed

Funding rounds

May 31, 2026

Latest development

What OpenAI actually makes, and what it does not

Read live from the registry. OpenAI makes AI models, not robots, and it ships no robot-shaped model on the record. In May 2026 it announced an in-house robotics division, but that division has shipped no hardware.

Robot models on the record: None. OpenAI ships no robot-shaped model on DEPLOY's record.
In-house division: OpenAI Robotics, announced May 2026. It exists and is hiring, but it has shipped no hardware.
What OpenAI does make: AI models. Its robotics role so far is through its models and its investments, not manufacturing.

OpenAI’s robotics investments

The most concrete part of the answer. Every funding round OpenAI joined that DEPLOY holds, newest first, each linked to the maker’s company record and to its source. The round size is the total size of the round, not OpenAI’s individual stake, which is not disclosed.

OpenAI’s robotics investments on DEPLOY’s record, newest first (round size is the total round, not OpenAI’s stake)
Company	Round	OpenAI’s role	Round size	Announced	Sources
Physical Intelligence San Francisco, CA, USA	Series B	Participant	$600M	Nov 20, 2025	The Robot Report
Figure AI Sunnyvale, California, USA	Series B	Strategic investor	$675M	Feb 29, 2024	Figure / PR Newswire (official)
1X Technologies Palo Alto, CA, USA (R&D in Oslo, Norway)	Series B	Participant	$100M (reported)	Jan 11, 2024	1X (official)
1X Technologies Palo Alto, CA, USA (R&D in Oslo, Norway)	Series A2	Lead investor	$24M	Mar 1, 2023	1X (official)

OpenAI’s robotics arc

How OpenAI got here, each step dated and sourced, newest first: an early research team, a hiatus, years of investing in other makers, and the May 2026 in-house relaunch.

May 31, 2026 (as reported)OpenAI announces an in-house robotics division, OpenAI RoboticsCompany announcement
Sam Altman announced OpenAI Robotics on X, stating the division evolved over the prior year from OpenAI's Worldsim research and is actively hiring hardware, systems, and ML engineers, led by Aditya Ramesh. On the record the division exists and is hiring, but it has shipped no hardware, and its strategy and timeline are stated aspirations, attributed to OpenAI, not demonstrated outcomes.
Sam Altman (X, official)2026-05-31 OpenAI (careers)2026-05-31
Mar 7, 2026 (as reported)Robotics and hardware lead Caitlin Kalinowski resignsReported
Caitlin Kalinowski, who had led OpenAI's robotics and hardware effort since November 2024, resigned, citing concerns about surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons tied to OpenAI's Pentagon work, as reported by Fortune. The later May 2026 relaunch is led by Aditya Ramesh.
Fortune2026-03-07
Feb 4, 2025 (as reported)Figure AI ends its OpenAI partnership, moving to in-house modelsReported
Figure AI, the humanoid maker OpenAI had backed and signed a collaboration agreement with in 2024, dropped OpenAI in favor of its own in-house models, ending that partnership, as reported by TechCrunch. OpenAI's investment in the Series B is a separate fact and stands on the record.
TechCrunch2025-02-04
Nov 5, 2024 (as reported)OpenAI hires Caitlin Kalinowski to lead robotics and hardwareReported
OpenAI hired Caitlin Kalinowski, the former head of Meta's Orion hardware program, to lead its robotics and hardware efforts, an early signal of the in-house rebuild after the 2021 hiatus, as reported by CNBC.
CNBC2024-11-05
Feb 29, 2024 (as reported)OpenAI backs Figure AI's Series B and signs a collaboration agreementReported
OpenAI joined Figure AI's $675 million Series B and signed a collaboration agreement to build AI models for Figure's humanoid, the closest OpenAI came to putting its models in a physical robot. The partnership later ended in February 2025 when Figure moved to in-house models.
Figure (PR Newswire)2024-02-29
Mar 1, 2023 (as reported)OpenAI Startup Fund leads 1X Technologies' Series A2, its first robot-maker bet after the hiatusReported
OpenAI's venture arm, the OpenAI Startup Fund, led the $23.5 million Series A2 of 1X Technologies, a Norwegian and US humanoid maker, its first robot-maker investment after disbanding the internal team, as reported by 1X.
1X Technologies2023-03-01
Oct 15, 2019 (as reported)OpenAI's first robotics era: the Dactyl hand solves a Rubik's cube, then the team is disbandedReported and confirmed
OpenAI's original robotics team, formed around 2017, built the Dactyl hand for in-hand manipulation (2018) and used it to solve a Rubik's cube one-handed in 2019, its first-era peak. OpenAI then disbanded the robotics team around 2021, with cofounder Wojciech Zaremba citing insufficient training data pending mature world models. OpenAI Robotics is the in-house relaunch of this line.
OpenAI (official)2019-10-15 MIT Technology Review2019-10-15 VentureBeat2021-07-16

How we know this

This answer is read from the record in three parts: the OpenAI Robotics division and OpenAI's robot models are read live from the registry, the investment ledger comes from dated, sourced funding rounds in the investor graph, and the robotics arc is a dated, attributed milestone list drawn from the OpenAI Robotics record's own sources. Here is a deduped sample, newest first.

The Robot Report Figure / PR Newswire (official)1X (official)1X (official)Sam Altman (X, official)2026-05-31 OpenAI (careers)2026-05-31 Fortune2026-03-07 TechCrunch2025-02-04 CNBC2024-11-05 OpenAI (official)2019-10-15 MIT Technology Review2019-10-15 VentureBeat2021-07-16

The May 2026 division launch and all capability and timeline framing are stated aspirations, attributed to OpenAI, not demonstrated outcomes. OpenAI's role in each round is an attributed investor position, not a verified-fact chip, and the dollar figure is the total round size, not OpenAI's own check, which is not disclosed.

Common questions

Does OpenAI build its own robots?

Not on DEPLOY’s record. OpenAI ships no robot-shaped model, and there is no OpenAI robot you can buy. In May 2026 it announced an in-house robotics division, OpenAI Robotics, but as of that announcement the division has shipped no hardware, and its capability and timeline claims are stated aspirations attributed to OpenAI, not demonstrated products.

What robots has OpenAI made?

None you can point to on the record. OpenAI's clearest robotics artifact is historical: the Dactyl hand its original robotics team built, which solved a Rubik's cube one-handed in 2019. That team was disbanded around 2021. OpenAI has not shipped a robot product since, and it makes no robot-shaped model on DEPLOY's record today.

Did OpenAI invest in Figure or 1X?

Yes. On DEPLOY’s record OpenAI’s venture arm led 1X Technologies’s 2023 Series A2 and joined its 2024 Series B, and OpenAI backed Figure AI’s $675 million Series B in February 2024 alongside a collaboration agreement. That OpenAI and Figure partnership later ended in February 2025 when Figure moved to in-house models. OpenAI has also backed Physical Intelligence. Each round is dated and sourced in the ledger on this page.

Is OpenAI Robotics a real company?

It is a real in-house division of OpenAI, not a separate company. Sam Altman announced OpenAI Robotics on May 31, 2026, and OpenAI is actively hiring robotics engineers for it. On the record its existence and hiring are verified through OpenAI’s own channels, but it has shipped no hardware, so everything about what it will build remains a stated plan rather than a delivered product.

Will OpenAI make a humanoid robot?

OpenAI says it wants to. Its stated near-term aim is robots to support skilled workers, and its long-term framing is a personal robot for everyone. But those are aspirations attributed to OpenAI, not products: as of the May 2026 division announcement, OpenAI had shipped no robot hardware and demonstrated no robot of its own. This page updates when the record does.

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