Google confirmed Friday to The New York Times that it had completed the acquisition of Boston Dynamics, the Waltham, Mass., engineering company that has designed robots for the Pentagon. The company, purchased by Google for an undisclosed sum, is the eighth robotics company Google has acquired in the last several months.
Last week, the Times also reported that Google’s newest “moonshot” effort to create a division focused on building and experimenting with robots would be developed by Andy Rubin, the boss behind Google’s Android operating system. Unlike Google’s computerized glasses or driverless cars, these robots will be available only to businesses that want to streamline the manufacturing process.
It’s unclear if manufacturing will be Boston Dynamics’ main purpose now that it is part of Google. An Oxford University study from last year predicted that 45 percent of United States jobs were “at high risk” of being lost to computerized machines.
Boston Dynamics robots, such as BigDog, Cheetah, WildCat and Atlas, have gained notoriety over the years through YouTube videos, GIFs and “the robots are taking over” half-curious, half-terrified reactions they create. The videos show agile, four-legged robots bustling through rough terrain, or sprinting around parking lots. One recent video showed their Cheetah robot sprinting 29 mph on a treadmill, faster than Usain Bolt in the 100-meter dash. see more
source: huffingtonpost
Tags: Boston Dynamics, Google, technology
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