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Google Canceled the Launch of a Robotic Arm After it Failed the 'Toothbrush Test' (bloomberg.com)
Mark Bergen, reporting for Bloomberg: Google published research this week detailing how its software enables robots to learn from one another. To demonstrate, the company's scientists showed videos featuring robotic arms whirling inside its labs. Google's robotics group built those machines and wanted to sell them to manufacturers, warehouse operators and others. However, executives at Google parent Alphabet Inc. nixed the plan because it failed Chief Executive Officer Larry Page's "toothbrush test," a requirement that the company only ship products used daily by billions of people, according to people familiar with the situation.
According to the article, the research isn't over. They just aren't going to sell the robotic arm. This doesn't even mean the robotic arm won't get sold--if Google decides it has no use for this, it can just sell the IP to someone else to develop and bring to market. Google just doesn't want to be in the robotic arm selling business right now.
If this was a known requirement for googles products why did they start to begin with
There are applications for robots that could potentially be sold to billions of people. This just isn't one of them. A household cooking & cleaning robot would be a good product for Google. Warehouse automation robots are not.