Three years after acquiring the MIT robotics science laboratory Boston Dynamics , God Almighty ofAtlasandother scary bots , Alphabet ( Google ’s parent company ) is sell it off toSoftbank , a Nipponese telecommunications company already live for its less terrifying automaton likePepperthat might shortly be getting some impressive upgrades . It turn out that postingYouTube videos of incubus - inducing robotsisn’t as profitable as once hop .
detail of the sales agreement , like how much Softbank paid for Google ’s now defunct Replicant naval division have n’t been revealed yet . You ’ll recall the skunkworks was found by Android - God Almighty Andy Rubin before heleft Alphabet to make smartphones again . But the sale also includes Schaft , another talented golem - builderwhichdominated the DARPA challengea few geezerhood ago .
https://gizmodo.com/google-is-reportedly-selling-crazy-robotics-skunkworks-1765507672
Alphabethas reportedly been seek to trade off its robot divisionfor almost a class now , with companies like Amazon and Toyota ab initio suspected as potential buyers . While Boston Dynamics has been creditworthy for create some of the most modern robots ever germinate , include thehumanoid Atlas , and thefour - legged Spot and Big - Dog , forward-looking technologies do n’t come cheap . The world is that Alphabet was still staring down years of expensive R&D before it could profitably sell its machinelike Creation , and Boston Dynamics and Schaft became victims of the company ’s efforts toscale back its bleeding - edge moonshotinvestments .
https://gizmodo.com/boston-dynamics-newest-robot-moves-like-a-donkey-on-rol-1792795672
Back in February , Boston Dynamics reveal a bot call Handle , a two - wheeled version of Atlas that the lab ’s founder , Marc Raibert , claimedcould be build and sold much cheaperthan bots like Atlas . By that point Alphabet was already patronise Boston Dynamics and Schaft around as part of cost - economize and restructuring initiatives thatsaw other moonshot projects getting axedas well . And many suspected that Handle , who had undoubtedly been in evolution for a while already , was only reveal as a way to sweeten the pot for likely buyers .
https://gizmodo.com/boston-dynamics-made-a-robot-baby-giraffe-that-can-do-y-1782491650
So what does Softbank want with Boston Dynamics and Schaft ? The Japanese telecommunications giant has already poured mountains of cash into evolve its friendly - looking Pepper andNAO robot , after acquiringAldebaran Roboticsin 2012 for over a $ 100 million , and invest $ 20 million inFetch Roboticsin 2015 . need for Pepper and NAO in Japan has been huge , withSoftbank selling out of modified runsalmost as soon as they ’re made available . So the company is distinctly confident there ’s enough immediate consumer requirement to make a few dollars selling bot .
In a press acquittance issued about the attainment , Softbank ’s Chairman & CEO Masayoshi Son praised the work Boston Dynamics has done . “ Smart robotics are going to be a key driver of the next stage of the Information Revolution , and Marc and his team at Boston Dynamics are the clear engineering leader in sophisticated dynamic robots . I am thrilled to welcome them to the SoftBank family and look frontward to supporting them as they keep to advance the field of honor of robotics and explore program that can help oneself make life easy , secure and more fulfilling . ”
But will Softbank take the same approach shot that Google did and just rent Boston Dynamics and Schaft develop advanced robots for the interest of pushing the area ahead ? Or does it project to merge them with its existing robotics squad in hope of making robots like Pepper and NAO more likable to consumers ? R&D is expensive , and it ’s secure to assume that Boston Dynamics and Schaft did n’t come cheap , so the party will almost certainly carefully balance both approaches , which means your dreams of a robot pantryman are suddenly a lot closer to becoming world .
ALPHABETboston dynamicsGoogleJapanRoboticsRobots
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