Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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!"

7 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.

    --
    10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
    1. 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.

      --
      Help stamp out iliturcy.
  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!

    --
    Everything and its opposite is true. Get used to it.
  4. 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!

  5. 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...?

  6. 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.