Google buys Boston Dynamics: little green Andy gets big mech sidekicks

Google is dead serious on its quest to become a major force in the future of robotics, it seems, as it just acquired the geniuses from Boston Dynamics - you know, the makers of the BigDog and humanoid Atlas robots that are so elaborate and practical that the army's research arm DARPA scooped some delivery contracts with them.

The purchase amount is undisclosed, but likely very significant, and Google said it will honor the existing army delivery contracts for Atlas you see in the video below, but is not planning to continue being a Pentagon supplier with Boston Dynamics afterwards. Google's huge push in robotics is headed by none other than the inventor of the little green Android robot - Andy Rubin - and he apparently has some major cash warchest at his disposal. 

The goal is to create usable and practical industrial robots and automation systems that will be an actual commercial success, rather than proofs-of-concept that can play soccer or twerk (yep, there are some of those). Given Google's effort with self-driving cars so far, we wouldn't bet against the folks at Mountain View when they seriously set sight on some long-term project, and now with Boston Dynamics on its belt, the game is really on.

source: NYT