Google Acquires Boston Dynamics Ready For Robot Takeover

It has been confirmed that Google has acquired the robot company Boston Dynamics, who built the DARPA-related robots WildCat, Atlas, Petman and Big Dog.

Andy Rubin, who is now heading up Google’s robotics sector, tweeted “The future is looking awesome!”. However the public reaction to the news is a little mixed. Some are slightly uneasy, whereas others are completely freaked by the fact that a company with robots that can go anywhere, have teamed up with a company that appears to know everything about everyone.

Boston Dynamic’s founder Marc Raibert was quoted in The New York Times saying “I am excited by Andy and Google’s ability to think very, very big, with the resources to make it happen.” There has been no mention of how much Google paid for the company but earlier this year Raibert was highlighting the company growth and plans to build comsumer-focused robots.

Although Boston Dynamics will honour existing military contracts, Google does not intend to continue with any more military contracts.

So now the race is on, will we see drones go mainstream first or Google robots?

[Image via Boston Dynamics]

SOURCE: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/14/google-bought-boston-dynamics-its-over-for-humans