Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, announced that Boston Dynamics, famous robotics firm, is now in the hands of SoftBank.
You know, the same Boston Dynamics that keeps making headlines with its amazing, bipedal and quadruped robots like Atlas and Big Dog. So what prompted the Google mother-ship to abandon it, especially since Alphabet has always had a keen interest in robotics?
News of Boston Dynamics being put up for sale first appeared last year, in August 2016. Even before that, Boston Dynamics’ future was shaky ever since Andy Rubin, Android co-founder, left the company. Andy Rubin was responsible for a number of high-profile robotics company acquisitions. When he left, Alphabet’s interest in this field seemed to wane.
In any case, Boston Dynamics is still at work and seemingly optimistic.
“We at Boston Dynamics are excited to be part of SoftBank’s bold vision and its position creating the next technology revolution, and we share SoftBank’s belief that advances in technology should be for the benefit of humanity. We look forward to working with SoftBank in our mission to push the boundaries of what advanced robots can do and to create useful applications in a smarter and more connected world.”
This is what Marc Raibert, the CEO and founder, had to say about the acquisition.
Indeed, what’s important is that Boston Dynamics continues to flourish. This is a company that was founded over 20 years ago and has its roots at MIT.
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