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Google Acquires Boston Dynamics

Posted by timothy on from the oh-you're-just-paranoid dept.

First time accepted submitter totally_mad writes "The New York Times reports that Google has acquired Boston Dynamics, a company that is primarily a concept robot maker for the military. The robot wars appear to be heating up between the big corporations, with Amazon recently announcing plans to have 30-minute home deliveries using drones. Perhaps Boston Dynamics', or now Google's, Cheetah will outrun the drone!"

15 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. will be interesting to see what they do with it by Trepidity · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Will they maintain its current (quite lucrative) military business? I can almost see Google becoming a defense contractor, and it would be one way of addressing their "we need revenue streams other than search ads" issue, which has been their main risk on the financial side for years.

    But defense contracting would be a bit of a shift in how they like to do business, and I'm not sure a positive one. Alternately, they could just repurpose the acquired tech and expertise towards Google's own robotics projects, and dump the military clients. That would be leaving quite a bit of money and existing business on the table, though, not to mention possibly annoying some politically powerful folks.

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    1. Re:will be interesting to see what they do with it by maxwell+demon · · Score: 2

      What could get interesting is the combination of those robot technologies with technologies to interpret the environment developed for Google's self-driving cars.

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      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    2. Re:will be interesting to see what they do with it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Two questions
      1. Is the revenue from the defense work of value to Google
      2. Is Boston Dynamics' defense work of value to the military

      If either or both of those are true then you might see a spin off or divestment of the military work to a 'slightly evil' company that would not be google... because they re not evil

    3. Re:will be interesting to see what they do with it by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      I for one hope that robotics will provide Google with a revenue stream other than ads and customer data. That way they might at some point create consumer robots which are designed with our benefit in mind, rather than that of advertisers. Then again, they might be tempted to leverage robotics for even more enhanced, soul-sucking data mining.

      Would you trust a Google household robot to not scan your house and every single product in it, and relaying the data back to its corporate overlord?

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      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    4. Re:will be interesting to see what they do with it by noh8rz10 · · Score: 2

      yeah but why do they want to get into robotics, other than because they're big nerds? what is the defensible business reason for expanding into robots? whatever happened with more wood behind fewer arrows. sure, they cancel reader but now make hunter-killers.

    5. Re:will be interesting to see what they do with it by symbolset · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not just this one project, Android, sold to Google for $50M and turned into a global mobile powerhouse that transformed the world. Some of his previous products turned out nicely as well. He was responsible WebTV, which sold to Microsoft for $425M before they turned it into nothing special. And for the Sidekick (Danger, Inc), which was huge for a while and the company sold to Microsoft for $1B before they turned it into the Kin and killed it. He is a serial innovator with grand vision and a long history of success. One of a handful of people at this level on the planet.

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  2. DARPA droids! by DaTrueDave · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We've already seen some of the incredible Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency droids that have come out of that shop, and one can only imagine what designs might be classified and unknown to the public.

    There's the humanoid robot, Atlas.
    The RC car with a secret, the SandFlea.
    There's the robot that runs faster than any man, Cheetah.
    The packmule that can't be tipped over, Big Dog.
    And the frightening combination of tech, the robot that runs fast on ANY terrain, WildCat.

    It will be interesting to see what Google does with their droids. Their robot shop is being headed by the guy that made Android the most popular smartphone OS, Andy Rubin. He tweeted a link to the New York Times story yesterday, along with the comment, "The future is looking awesome!" Rubin was a robotics engineer for Apple, and the lens company, Carl Zeiss, before starting with Google.

    Regardless of your feelings about droids, I think we're going to see huge advances in robotics now that Google is jumping in with both feet.

  3. I, for one... by blackbeak · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I, for one, would like someone to please tell me when it's time to say "Goodbye" to our new overlords!

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    Everything and its opposite is true. Get used to it.
  4. An acquisition I did not expect by wjcofkc · · Score: 2

    Boston Dynamics is a favorite company of mine, they have developed some remarkable technologies. Atlas is easily one of the most advanced bi-pedal robots yet developed - albeit also the stupidest. When I consider that the majority of their R&D seems to be for the military, it makes me more than a little curious what Google plans to do with their new toys. I don't see Google going into the business of military hardware, yet the military has been more than interested in some of the tech they have developed. It boggles my mind to think what Google will do with this.

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    1. Re:An acquisition I did not expect by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, if you're going to beat swords into plowshares, it would be great to do it before the swords are wielded in anger -- and even more efficient to do it before you spend all the time to forge, temper and sharpen them.

      The technologies BD developed to make these robots work certainly have non-military uses. I'm not sure how they apply to data-gathering and marketing, though. Maybe some parts of Google really are interested in advancing technology for its own sake...?

  5. Re:Google's Plan by flyingfsck · · Score: 2

    It puts search and destroy in a whole new light.

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  6. what could possibly go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    soooo...

    lemme see if I got this straight: the company who built skynet has acquired the company that's just built the first cylon? don't see this ending well...

    hopefully we at least get to meet the Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Rekha Sharma & Lucy Lawless models before we're wiped out!

  7. Re:Welcome to the world of the future! by VortexCortex · · Score: 2

    I prefer to imagine the robo-cheetah batting at a quadcopter while the herd of big-dogs watch from a distance and begin forming a protective circle.
    Whichever gets photographic proof of delivery earns the energy credit to survive. Let natural selection do the rest.

  8. And in other news, Google has renamed... by dywolf · · Score: 2

    And in other news, following a shakeup at the top levels, Google is being renamed Cyberdyne Systems (NASDAQ: CDSYS).

    No word yet on whether the motto "Do No Evil" will remain in place or be changed.

    Top executives after the shakeup say their new focus will be on merging their artificial intelligence development projects with newly developed tech such as Google Glass and robotics, in order to create life-like avatars. These avatars can be used as surrogates for disabled person, or even to replace human workers in extremely hazardous occupations. There has been speculation as well that these would also be used to gather even more data from the real world to further enhance their marketing capabilities. The military has also expressed in interest in these avatars.

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    The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
  9. Re: will be interesting to see what they do with i by timeOday · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think you're nuts. Automating transportation will dwarf the search business.