Google remained quiet until Amazon made its drone announcement. From that moment, Google HAD to get itself in the robotic talk stream. Boston Dynamics provides Google an immediate presence in the robotics field. If you remember, manufacturing was the initial Google robotics talking points. Amazon's aerial drones are much more sexier than manufacturing robots to a company like Google. It will be interesting to see how long it takes tech experts to start writing how Apple is falling behind in the robotics arena even though Apple has already made investments in robotics in China and USA.
I reckon this might be the beginning of Google home-bots - the next big thing in consumer electronics circa 5 to 10 years from now! lol
Yeah, they'll watch every damn thing you do and constantly suggest that you purchase this that and the other thing, ostensibly to make your life easier.
If Andy Rubin can make a viable business out of this and other robotics-related Google acquisitions, then color me impressed. Something just tells me he's in over his head and that this might be some sort of vanity project.
I expect we'll soon hear the clickity-click of little spiders come to scan our retinas. Thanks Evil-google for bringing yet another aspect of Minority Report to our lives.
Motorola stayed the same for a while after the Google acquisition. It wasn't until fairly recently that they've started hitting the right notes such as ditching the Motoblur android skin, pushing out OS updates in a timely fashion, and appealing to the enthusiasts by honoring the warranty of the dev edition Moto X even after they unlock the bootloader.
So... What are the other 7 robotics companies that Google bought in the last six months?
So... I can only find the names of two other robot companies they bought...
>>
His other acquisitions include Bot & Dolly, a design studio that makes an automated camera system used in movies such as Gravity, and Schaft, a spin-off from the University of Tokyo whose bipedal robots boast much stronger "muscles" than other bots.
<<
I found the list... (IEEE Spectrum robotics blog)...
>> Mr. Rubin has secretly acquired an array of robotics and artificial intelligence start-up companies in the United States and Japan.
Among the companies are Schaft, a small team of Japanese roboticists who recently left Tokyo University to develop a humanoid robot, and Industrial Perception, a start-up here that has developed computer vision systems and robot arms for loading and unloading trucks. Also acquired were Meka and Redwood Robotics, makers of humanoid robots and robot arms in San Francisco, and Bot & Dolly, a maker of robotic camera systems that were recently used to create special effects in the movie “Gravity.” A related firm, Autofuss, which focuses on advertising and design, and Holomni, a small design firm that makes high-tech wheels, were acquired as well.
The seven companies are capable of creating technologies needed to build a mobile, dexterous robot. Mr. Rubin said he was pursuing additional acquisitions.
Some brief highlights:
Schaft is one of the Track A teams participating in the DARPA Robotics Challenge with their own custom robot based on the HRP-2. Industrial Perception spun out of Willow Garage back in March of 2012; read our Startup Spotlight post on them here. Meka Robotics builds research robots with series elastic actuators in them; they're probably best known for the M1 humanoid (pictured above in front of the Google logo) and Dreamer, which you can read about here. Redwood Robotics is (was) a collaboration between Willow Garage, SRI, and Meka that was supposedly designing a very low cost robotic arm. We've been asking around and haven't heard much for the last year or so, maybe now we know why. And of course, there's Bot & Dolly, which uses robot arms for precise and repeatable camera control, making things way more awesome than "precise and repeatable camera control" probably makes you think of. <<
Happy that I don't have a 1000$ share of this company because I don't understand where they heading.
I don't own any GOOG either and I'm not 100% sure they know where they're going with this either. All I know is they have the money now to allow them to spend millions (or billions) on R&D that may not have a payoff.
Surely this purchase is intended to mesh with the driverless car project. Or maybe they are envisioning a factory without humans. Or as others have mentioned a home-bot.
I think the owners of Google just like cool stuff!
But honestly, any company with advanced tech like Google and Apple with extra cash to spare would be crazy not to get into the field of personalized robotics -- as it's the next step from these computing devices.
AS the population ages, the number one product is going to be some kind of personal care robot. And YES, robotics + driverless car is most of the tech you need for that.
Nothing may show of this for 5 or more years, but they are probably forward looking to start making patents around recognition of objects and terrain.
Executives at the company reportedly consider Rubin's secretive project to be a "moonshot." But the <em>Times</em> also portrayed it as more realistic than Amazon's "Prime Air" drone delivery service, which it hopes will be able to offer same-day packages dropped off by automated flying machines.
The following article mentions that Brin invested in Space Adventures among other things:
Advanced robotics would be good to have on a Space Adventure but definitely for automated meat production. When you see the stats in that article, it's clear they need to figure out a way to manufacture meat more efficiently.
While replacing smartphones running Android with actual androids would appeal to some people, sustainable food production is a very important issue.
I like the diversity of the projects Google is willing to undertake. Apple's approach of having a few products to fit on a table maintains their focus and quality but other companies with the financial resources required to tackle global issues like food and transport aren't stepping up to the plate to solve the issues.
Think of a world where all food is produced by machines, all transport is done by automated machines, all homes are built by machines and every home is powered by close to 100% renewable energy. This would surely allow every human being to live a comfortable lifestyle. It would lower the cost of living to near zero, which is where we should be. Every person deserves the right to live a comfortable lifestyle without struggling for it.
Some might argue that by taking away life's hardships, it would make people lazy and advances would slow down but the advances are made to achieve this state anyway and I think it would give people the opportunity to do work that makes them content.
There's a lot of risk in new large-scale ventures. If they aim too high and fail, the costs can destroy big companies. The alternative though is not to try at all and that's far worse. They'd just pile up a huge amount of cash that is of no benefit to anyone.
Comments
If Andy Rubin can make a viable business out of this and other robotics-related Google acquisitions, then color me impressed. Something just tells me he's in over his head and that this might be some sort of vanity project.
I see Eric Schmidt cruising the campus, screaming "Marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing! Hee-yaa!!!"
And Larry Page saying
1. Go back in time to April 1954.
2. Kill Abdul Fattah Jandali.
3. Profit.
I expect we'll soon hear the clickity-click of little spiders come to scan our retinas. Thanks Evil-google for bringing yet another aspect of Minority Report to our lives.
THEY BOUGHT BOSTON DYNAMICS?!
Everything good in this world is destroyed.
"Do no evil" is what comes to mind, obviously...NOT.
The bootloader comes factory unlocked.
So... I can only find the names of two other robot companies they bought...
>>
His other acquisitions include Bot & Dolly, a design studio that makes an automated camera system used in movies such as Gravity, and Schaft, a spin-off from the University of Tokyo whose bipedal robots boast much stronger "muscles" than other bots.
<<
Can anybody name the others?
>>
Mr. Rubin has secretly acquired an array of robotics and artificial intelligence start-up companies in the United States and Japan.
Among the companies are Schaft, a small team of Japanese roboticists who recently left Tokyo University to develop a humanoid robot, and Industrial Perception, a start-up here that has developed computer vision systems and robot arms for loading and unloading trucks. Also acquired were Meka and Redwood Robotics, makers of humanoid robots and robot arms in San Francisco, and Bot & Dolly, a maker of robotic camera systems that were recently used to create special effects in the movie “Gravity.” A related firm, Autofuss, which focuses on advertising and design, and Holomni, a small design firm that makes high-tech wheels, were acquired as well.
The seven companies are capable of creating technologies needed to build a mobile, dexterous robot. Mr. Rubin said he was pursuing additional acquisitions.
Some brief highlights:
Schaft is one of the Track A teams participating in the DARPA Robotics Challenge with their own custom robot based on the HRP-2.
Industrial Perception spun out of Willow Garage back in March of 2012; read our Startup Spotlight post on them here.
Meka Robotics builds research robots with series elastic actuators in them; they're probably best known for the M1 humanoid (pictured above in front of the Google logo) and Dreamer, which you can read about here.
Redwood Robotics is (was) a collaboration between Willow Garage, SRI, and Meka that was supposedly designing a very low cost robotic arm. We've been asking around and haven't heard much for the last year or so, maybe now we know why.
And of course, there's Bot & Dolly, which uses robot arms for precise and repeatable camera control, making things way more awesome than "precise and repeatable camera control" probably makes you think of.
<<
Happy that I don't have a 1000$ share of this company because I don't understand where they heading.
The bootloader comes factory unlocked.
I thought one had to call Motorola to get an unlock code or something.
Happy that I don't have a 1000$ share of this company because I don't understand where they heading.
I don't own any GOOG either and I'm not 100% sure they know where they're going with this either. All I know is they have the money now to allow them to spend millions (or billions) on R&D that may not have a payoff.
Surely this purchase is intended to mesh with the driverless car project. Or maybe they are envisioning a factory without humans. Or as others have mentioned a home-bot.
I think the owners of Google just like cool stuff!
But honestly, any company with advanced tech like Google and Apple with extra cash to spare would be crazy not to get into the field of personalized robotics -- as it's the next step from these computing devices.
AS the population ages, the number one product is going to be some kind of personal care robot. And YES, robotics + driverless car is most of the tech you need for that.
Nothing may show of this for 5 or more years, but they are probably forward looking to start making patents around recognition of objects and terrain.
The following article mentions that Brin invested in Space Adventures among other things:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/05/google-sergey-brin-synthetic-beef-hamburger
Advanced robotics would be good to have on a Space Adventure but definitely for automated meat production. When you see the stats in that article, it's clear they need to figure out a way to manufacture meat more efficiently.
While replacing smartphones running Android with actual androids would appeal to some people, sustainable food production is a very important issue.
I like the diversity of the projects Google is willing to undertake. Apple's approach of having a few products to fit on a table maintains their focus and quality but other companies with the financial resources required to tackle global issues like food and transport aren't stepping up to the plate to solve the issues.
Think of a world where all food is produced by machines, all transport is done by automated machines, all homes are built by machines and every home is powered by close to 100% renewable energy. This would surely allow every human being to live a comfortable lifestyle. It would lower the cost of living to near zero, which is where we should be. Every person deserves the right to live a comfortable lifestyle without struggling for it.
Some might argue that by taking away life's hardships, it would make people lazy and advances would slow down but the advances are made to achieve this state anyway and I think it would give people the opportunity to do work that makes them content.
There's a lot of risk in new large-scale ventures. If they aim too high and fail, the costs can destroy big companies. The alternative though is not to try at all and that's far worse. They'd just pile up a huge amount of cash that is of no benefit to anyone.