15 ms·

Google Acquires Boston Dynamics

799 points by dshankar 13y ago

iamshs 13y ago
Aha, Boston Dynamics has such wild repertoire of robots. Well done. Forget Big Dog, I like this robot a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b4ZZQkcNEo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b4ZZQkcNEo Maps, Self-Driving car, robots and a high quality analytics team. On top of that, robotic team comprises of various reputed groups with talented well regarded individuals. I look forward to the future. Also, how much disparity will arise in quality of living between North America and various Asian countries, or even Europe.
- tonyarkles 13y ago
  When I saw the headline, I was thinking to myself "I'm sure I've heard of these guys before" and then I remembered the Sand Flea. Such a cool little guy! Thanks for the video, it fills me with awe every time I see it.
batbomb 13y ago
So is google going to start supplying the DoD when the DARPA projects graduate?
- sitkack 13y ago
  Good thing they have that first law that prevents them from doing evil.
  - venomsnake 13y ago
    But not preventing them from introducing "bugs". I wonder when will we see first robot genocide? In 10 years? 20?
    - nomedeplume 13y ago
      30
    - mladenkovacevic 13y ago
      Whenever it happens I am sure it will be fully democratic and completely lawful.
    - sitkack 13y ago
      It probably already happened in the 80s (Nicaragua, Honduras or Panama) with a partially automated AC130 gunship.
      - dm2 13y ago
        What part of an AC130 is automated?
        sitkack 13y ago
        The smaller more asymmetric military operations are often used to test prototype weapons. My response about automated genocide is that it most likely already happened. And I can't think of a better testbed than an AC130 gunship for an automatic aiming system, the operators only see thermal blobs anyway. Not like this, http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/robot-cannon-ki/ http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/robot-cannon-ki/ This would be trivial to automate https://archive.org/details/AC-130_Gunship_Ops_in_Afghanistan_HighResolution https://archive.org/details/AC-130_Gunship_Ops_in_Afghanista...
        dm2 13y ago
        Wow, I hadn't heard of that story, truly scary stuff. This video was linked to in that article, http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/video-robo-weap/ http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/video-robo-weap/ hopefully every soldier, programmer, and engineer working on these systems has to watch similar videos so that they know the importance of getting this stuff right.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - mirkules 13y ago
    First law: "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." (Only applicable to sentient robots, of course) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics
- yeukhon 13y ago
  I don't think that's necessarily a negative thing, just because it's Google. Think about how many university professors receive grants from DoD. How many of them are actually purely for science? They are all practical.
  - twelve40 13y ago
    > grants from DoD ... They are all practical You'd be surprised. I've done a couple of grants for projects that ended up being completely open to public and DoD didn't really give a shit about, despite providing some sweet funding for them. But Google... that's a different story.
    - yeukhon 13y ago
      I think you missed my implication to his response. The way he put it is that Google is evil so when it moves to DoD and it must be evil, and I say that's not necessarily true just because Google being Google.
- stdgy 13y ago
  The article states that they said that while they intend to honor Boston Dynamic's current government contracts, Google is not interested in becoming a government contractor.
  - psbp 13y ago
    They're just interested in becoming the government.
brd 13y ago
Reading the headline the first words out my mouth were "holy shit" Not only does this bring some serious engineering talent to Google's robotics initiative, this acquisition should create some interesting new interactions between Google and the government moving forward.
- 1qaz2wsx3edc 13y ago
  My first thoughts were along: "Nope" and "This is how the robopocalypse starts". Google & BD are both researching machine learning, it only makes sense for Google to buy them.
  - thibauts 13y ago
    Both will sure gain from each other talents and data. Robotics for the self-driving car, and a brain for the humanoïds. Aweso... well not so much.
    - jol 13y ago
      I'm so glad to see that, that I am not the only person with such dual reaction - This is sooo awsomme tech! & ok, were it is going might not be so cool at the end...
  - shiloa 13y ago
    Agreed - My first reaction was "Google == Cyberdyne Systems". I hope a lot of good comes out of this, but I cannot help but think of worst case scenarios. Then again, maybe I consume too much sci-fi movies and books.
    - jfoster 13y ago
      It doesn't help that the robots produced by BD look a bit like the ones from "robots versus humans" movies. This acquisition feels a bit scary, but also very exciting. In reality, self-awareness is probably far enough away that we don't have much to worry about for now.
BIair 13y ago
Asimov added a 4th law: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. Is it just me, or is, "don't be evil" a little too close for comfort?
- thibauts 13y ago
  It's all right. If adopted, the second part has provision for protecting us from terrorists. I can relax now.
- troymc 13y ago
  That would be the "Zeroth Law", zeroth because it supersedes all the others. A version of it first showed up in Asimov's short story "The Evitable Conflict": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Evitable_Conflict https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Evitable_Conflict https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeroth_Law_of_Robotics#Zeroth_Law_added https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeroth_Law_of_Robotics#Zeroth_... If you give robots autonomy, they inevitably end up having to make moral decisions. For example, "Should I, an autonomous car, run over the elderly man or the girl with terminal cancer, those being the only two options?" Asimov's laws (initially suggested by an editor, John W. Campbell) were a first pass at some principles for decision-making. Others have since devised more elaborate ones.
  - PavlovsCat 13y ago
    It's all still just words. No two humans could ever fully agree on what constitutes "harm", racist ones would even debate who is "human". It's like everybody has the public methods what_is_harm() and what_is_a_human(), but how they're implemented matters, not the function signature. The laws of robots are just placeholders for something that never got written. Words are tricky. What if robots decide that the best way to avoid harm coming to humans is to prevent any being born? So that means you have to rephrase it, into something like maximizing human happiness. Oh no, now they're injecting everyone with drugs and cloning humans by the planetfull. What now? Actual source or it didn't happen.. just creating an empty file called solution_to_the_problem.txt doesn't work, I tried it.
    - 13y ago
deleted 13y ago
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madiator 13y ago
I feel like robotics in a few years is what big data is today. So what is it that one should be doing to get ready to jump into robotics in a few years?
- dsl 13y ago
  You mean everyone and their grandmother will be a robotics expert? Most of the people I run into today working on "big data" could still effectively fit the workloads in a single powerful MySQL box.
  - madiator 13y ago
    May be thats true, but it is irrelevant to my question.
- DigitalJack 13y ago
  arduino, lego mindstorms, linear algebra Actually, a lot of the math for 3d game engines transfers directly to robotics. Matrix coordinate transformation to/from each joint to figure out where/how to place it.
- textminer 13y ago
  Pragmatic question: I'm a mathematician by training, and currently a machine learning engineer at a large Silicon Valley company. How does one in their late twenties jump into really working robotics? Machine learning was something I could watch lectures on, read papers about, work the math out on paper, then spend years in Python/C++ getting a feel for across various problem domains. Physical robots don't seem as accessible.
  - nl 13y ago
    Computer Vision is a good gateway. Also, play with Arduino some.
  - Qworg 13y ago
    Sensors. All robots need sensors and your math background will serve you well.
ChuckMcM 13y ago
This seems like a stretch. I am a big fan of robotics, and I get the Hard Problem appeal but it doesn't seem like a good use of Google's funds. It does make for some interesting speculation though.
- Qworg 13y ago
  Wouldn't you say they're looking for their "next business"? Why not robots? Higher barrier to entry, untapped market. It is a place where a ton of capital can really shine.
  - olefoo 13y ago
    So why wasn't Apple in there bidding against them? I could actually see Apple doing a rather good job with robots. Making sleek, stylish efficient (servant|killing) machines... On a more sober note. I see Apple as being likely to go after the home automation market. In fact I wouldn't be too surprised if they partnered up with an RV manufacturer to try out technology for the "iHome".
    - Qworg 13y ago
      In truth, I don't know why no one else is bidding in. Perhaps it seems too risky or too outside the core business. As for home automation, sure. I cannot see why these companies aren't trying to stake out the Internet of Things in the home more.
  - ChuckMcM 13y ago
    Well to some extent they are always looking for the next business. And discarding as 'useless' $100M/yr businesses because they didn't show up in the numbers when your annual revenue is $60+B a year. Robotics isn't a 'smart gap' market (where if only smart people would focus on it they could dominate it) there are lots of brilliant people already toiling away there. It isn't an advertising market. In Asimov's vision of the future the robotics company that developed the positronic brain is the dominant corporation in the galaxy, and perhaps Larry is working on a positronic brain equivalent. But who knows. Maybe they are afraid of Bezo's drone army, or Musk's rockets. But why Boston Dynamics and not iRobot? Why a fragment of Willow Garage and not Neato? Why a self driving car but not Tesla? Lots of questions. Its a fun puzzle to try to solve.
Qworg 13y ago
Robotics is multifaceted and difficult in all of them. Boston Dynamics is probably the best place in the world for motion dynamics, gaits, and walking mechanics. I'm amazed, but I suppose I shouldn't be - Google made a great choice.
jblock 13y ago
HN gets a lot of post about acquisitions and whatnot, but I feel this is probably one of the most important in recent memory. The implications of taking this talent into consumer robotics (or augmenting their presence in the defense community) will ripple through the tech world.
- rch 13y ago
  Yup. Absolutely agreed. I really didn't expect this.
- aaronsnoswell 13y ago
  Couldn't agree more - I would rate this as the second most important news item this year, after the NSA revelations.
- mortenjorck 13y ago
  It's amazing because it's so clearly, wildly complementary: Google becomes the prefrontal cortex to Boston Dynamics' robotic central nervous systems. I can't see this pairing as anything other than the beginning of the world of sci-fi robotics.
  - salient 13y ago
    Which often doesn't end well.
    - jodrellblank 13y ago
      It "often doesn't end well"? It hasn't ever happened! Stories about it often end in a way that makes for a good story. That's not saying the same thing at all.
      - hershel 13y ago
        There's a basis in reality for those. many powerful technologies have been used in the fast for "evil".
jacques_chester 13y ago
Google is building one hell of a robotics patent portfolio.
- geolisto 13y ago
  I 2nd that. Given this is the eighth company to be acquired by Google in the last 6 months this will be interesting to see where Google takes this.
asadotzler 13y ago
Google eats brains!
SmileyKeith 13y ago
Having just watched this video[0] of some of their work this stuff is just amazing. I can't wait to see what Google does with it. Also this is what makes Google such an awesome company from a computer science perspective IMO. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRsrwumQ&feature=youtu.be&t=56s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRsrwumQ&feature=youtu.be...
joelle 13y ago
Google acquired something else? Shocking!
rodly 13y ago
So does this mean Google will possibly move out of the search and advertising business within 5-10-15 years due to low margins and what have you?
- adventured 13y ago
  As funny as that is, their core business has extremely high margins. If all Google did is run their search engine and ad business, they'd have a 50%+ net income margin. For fiscal 2010, they printed $8.5b in net income on $29.5b in sales (28.8%). That's with all the other things they do that don't have good margins (or lose money) eating up their core margin. Very few things have better margins than software (Microsoft once hit a 41% net margin, for fiscal 2000; nothing better than software monopoly margins).
  - aaronblohowiak 13y ago
    >Very few things have better margins than software Ad business and search engine are not selling software.
    - adventured 13y ago
      I didn't say selling software. I said very few things have higher margins than software. Google's search engine and ad platforms are software systems, and Google is a software company first and foremost; they always have been, and always will be. The extrapolated principle is obvious here. Google writes it once, and scales it toward infinity. The same principle worked for Microsoft with Windows; the same principle is at work for Salesforce.com or Facebook or Oracle, regardless of what we call it ("cloud"). This principle is what makes most software so profitable, per user there's usually nothing to uniquely manufacture or create. With scale margins properly skyrocket. So whether we're talking about software search, or software retail, or an ad business built on software (eg Google's hyper automated ad system) or software services, the difference doesn't matter much.
robomartin 13y ago
My childhood dream was to buid robots. I left that dream when I realized doing robotics mostly meant industrial arms and pick-and-place machines. Seeing developments over the last few years is inspiring, to say the least. Maybe it's time to consider coming back in.
- cLeEOGPw 13y ago
  No, it's not. If you want to build robots at home you will have to accept they will be vacuum cleaner level robots. For "real" robotics we need better software for controlling robot body. And that requires artificial brain. And we don't know yet how to build it, because we don't know how our brain works in enough detail yet.
dm2 13y ago
http://www.youtube.com/user/BostonDynamics http://www.youtube.com/user/BostonDynamics Here is a link to Boston Dynamics' YouTube channel in case any of you want to see some of the amazing robots they've built over the years. Boston Dynamics' robot knowledge (and patents) combined with Google ability to create awesome software, such as their self-driving car, will be a great combination. I'm not sure where going is going with all of these recent acquisitions. Home and office robots to make our lives easier? What in the heck are they up to at Google X? The US DoD probably doesn't like this too much, considering that Google stated that they do not want to step into the government contracting sector. Boston Dynamics seemed like one of the most promising contractors for DARPA in the robotics industry. IMO it's only a matter of time before Google steps into the cyborg industry. It's almost scary to think about, but it's inevitable and at least Google has some experience in dealing with products and services that are controversial, such as data privacy. I was about to rip on Apple for not doing anything innovative or even remotely interesting in years, but it's sad to see all of that money be wasted on rounded corners, perfecting fonts, and scrolling animations.
- DigitalJack 13y ago
  Apple had the same issue re government contracting when the bought PA-semi. The honored existing contracts and made no new ones afaik.
- geuis 13y ago
  When Google starts investing/buying into companies doing bio-compatible materials, this is when we'll see they are moving to cybernetics. It's the basic research that is started before big advances in the field appear.
- kalleboo 13y ago
  > it's sad to see all of that money be wasted on rounded corners, perfecting fonts, and scrolling animations. It may seem like a waste from a technocratic point of view, but it's probably worth it just for popularizing and normalizing technology. If we didn't have that bump in style and usability in smartphones/tablets, people would be less comfortable with carrying around the internet in their pocket, there'd be less demand for tech like 4G, etc. Now people's minds are a bit more open to pervasive tech, and it may help adoption of whatever tech BD+Google develops.
flywheel 13y ago
skynet
avenger123 13y ago
The video for the robot running is just Wow. Really amazing. I thought I had seen all this before. Then it clicked. Only in the movies. To see it real like this, really amazing. All you need is a nice dog custome over it.
clockwerkelf 13y ago
We should all be very concerned about this. Ray Kurzweil, who is a Google executive, hopes that one day machines will achieve 'singularity'. If this ever happens, and it just might, humanity will be replaced by machines. The Matrix would literally become reality.
- jodrellblank 13y ago
  Are you just stringing words together by rolling dice here? If the planets align with Saggittarius, and they just might, crystal chakra energy will release thetans and quantum bio vibrations will slaughter thousands. Sylvia Browne's dreams will literally become reality. 1. In the Matrix, humans were not replaced by machines. 2. The Matrix was not a post-singularity world 3. Ray Kurzweil hopes humans will achieve {some kind of singularity}( it's not clearly defined) for the benefit of humans. 4. This news is about physical moving robots, it's the less relevant part. If you fear self improving AI then Google's usual software work should be what you panic about.
  - clockworkelf 13y ago
    Are you Ray Kurzweil's personal assistant? If not, then I'm amazed you can read his mind. You're naive to think that the combination of Google and the work of a military robotics contractor is benign.
    - jodrellblank 13y ago
      I cite Ray Kurzweil's website, a questions and answers session written by Ray Kurzweil: Intelligent nanorobots will be deeply integrated in our bodies, our brains, and our environment, overcoming pollution and poverty, providing vastly extended longevity, full-immersion virtual reality incorporating all of the senses (like The Matrix), “experience beaming” (like “Being John Malkovich”), and vastly enhanced human intelligence. - http://www.kurzweilai.net/singularity-q-a http://www.kurzweilai.net/singularity-q-a This is not "humans being replaced by machines". All these claimed things are beneficial for people. You claim he actually wants something different to what he says, why do you think that? You're naive to think that the combination of Google and the work of a military robotics contractor is benign This is just throwing an insult at me. You aren't addressing any of the points I raised about your disconnected reasoning and flawed comparisons.
sneak 13y ago
Does "don't be evil" mean "don't build robots that the government will use to kill or harm people"? It would be nice to see some clarification on this from Google management. There's only so far you can go in high end robotics research before the pentagon comes a-knocking with wheelbarrows of freshly printed money. in b4 "skynet"
- GuiA 13y ago
  Google's "Don't be evil" carries no more weight than your local mechanic's "The best car shop in town!". It's cheap branding.
  - sneak 13y ago
    You and I know this, but I imagine there are many Googlers who take it to heart, and the cognitive dissonance involved in their building war machines may be useful to our ends of reducing American-perpetrated violence.
    - cromwellian 13y ago
      How about we wait until Google actually starts building such weapons before we start accusing them of actually wanting to do so.
      - sneak 13y ago
        What makes you think we'd ever be told?
      - PavlovsCat 13y ago
        How about we wait until someone actually accuses Google of that before we accuse them of accusing Google of that.
      - ams6110 13y ago
        It is flatly impossible to build such devices and prevent them from being weaponized.
tylerlh 13y ago
This is huge and speaks volumes to Google's seriousness about robotics moving forward. My favorite from Boston Dynamics impressive creations is the Sandflea. http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_sandflea.html http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_sandflea.html
maibaum 13y ago
There is no doubt in my mind: this is an acquisition that will change the world
mgulaid 13y ago
Holy shit.. this is huge.. This would give google huge advantage in robotics. What scare me that google is creeping into critical areas of modern life. And they usually dominate every field they enter.
- tesseractive 13y ago
  Like social networking? Smartphone manufacturing? Ebooks? There are plenty of fields that Google has entered that they haven't dominated.
  - amaks 13y ago
    You'll be surprised, but Google dominates social networking. Don't forget about YT.
    - scholia 13y ago
      YouTube isn't really a social network.
      - amaks 13y ago
        Why not? It has all properties of a social network. Is Instagram a social network? Pinterest? Same principles, different look. It doesn't have to have "friends" to be a social network, you know.
        scholia 13y ago
        Most of YouTube doesn't work as a social network, and most YouTube users don't use it for social networking. I don't find the argument from features compelling because so many different services have the same features. On a broad definition, there are millions of social networking sites, but on a broad definition, the term becomes so close to meaningless that it doesn't tell you anything useful.
dsl 13y ago
This now makes Google a DoD contractor.
- mortehu 13y ago
  Nope, already was: http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-office-365-and-google-apps-face-off-in-dod-contract-7000022152/ http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-office-365-and-google-apps-fa...
bobosha 13y ago
anyone know what the price that Google paid? I know they haven't disclosed it, but any guesstimates?
hawkharris 13y ago
A few years ago I enrolled in a four-month investigative journalism program. My challenge was to find an interesting character and embed myself with the person, writing about his or her life and career. I ended up running into an engineer from Boston Dynamics and spent four months writing about his unique approach to solving problems. The engineer, Jon, who worked on Big Dog as well as Rise, was one of the coolest and most inspirational people I've met. He explained how he struggled with dyslexia as a kid, and engineering, being more right brain-oriented, was a vehicle that allowed him to succeed despite his disability. In fact, he later took a huge salary cut so he could become a high school teacher and teach engineering to kids, especially those with dyslexia. But getting back to the issue at hand, I really enjoyed learning about Boston Dynamics during the four months I spent working on the story, and I think Google made a smart decision.
- skybrian 13y ago
  Interesting. Do you have a link to the story?
  - hawkharris 13y ago
    Hey, thanks for your interest. :) Here's a link: http://codynedromano.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/vertices/ http://codynedromano.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/vertices/
- officialjunk 13y ago
  do you happen to mean jon clark? i helped work with him on RiSE :) can't believe it's been almost 8 years now. i wasn't working with the robotics directly, though, but studying animal locomotion (measuring foot forces, CM, roll/pitch/yaw ...). good times
  - ivoflipse 13y ago
    Do you happen to have any reports or theses about the animal locomotion studies? I'm currently working on a similar topic (https://github.com/ivoflipse/Pawlabeling/ https://github.com/ivoflipse/Pawlabeling/) and its always good to learn from past experiences.
troymc 13y ago
I wonder if this new generation of robots might be able to do certain kinds of agriculture which, until now, have resisted automation, such as coffee harvesting on steep hillsides.
mimighost 13y ago
This is huge. It is cutting-edge, hardcore technology. Worth so much more than Snapchat-like hype (ironically, may be even much cheaper). Well done, Google.
Oculus 13y ago
Does anyone know what Google is brewing with their new army of robot engineers/companies? I'm obviously not expecting the correct answer (anyone who know's certainly wouldn't be able to say), but I am curious what others speculate.
- Istof 13y ago
  Robots that help around the house. Of course they will have cameras and microphones transmitting data to the "cloud" for navigation (and targeted ads that will be projected on walls, etc by the robot)
kken 13y ago
>It is the eighth robotics company that Google has acquired in the last half-year. This is a crazy aggressive acquisition strategy. Does anybody have a list of the other companies? Where could google be heading to? They already have self-driving cars and a big stake in Uber. Somehow I am missing a connection to a manufacturer that already has an established stake in the vehicle/robotics industry. All they have so far are design companies.
- jjoonathan 13y ago
  Maybe they're "headed to" robotic construction? It would certainly leverage Google's strengths as a machine learning / AI company. If they can buy up a bunch of robotics companies and get there first, they might just capture a market that makes search look tiny.
  - XorNot 13y ago
    Well anyone who can reliably get around-the-house helper robots into people's homes is going to be the next-next megacorp.
- btown 13y ago
  If Google is the only one with robotics technology, then it can name its terms when dealing with vehicle manufacturers, because they will need to be able to license it to remain cutting-edge. By not acquiring/having a formal stake in the automobile industry, it limits its risk (since we all know how risky that business is now!).
- vitobcn 13y ago
  From [1]: Google bought seven robotics companies in the past six months - Schaft, Industrial Perception, Meka, Redwood Robotics, Bot & Dolly, Autofuss and Holomni - [1] : http://allthingsd.com/20131203/google-acquired-seven-robotics-companies-for-andy-rubin/ http://allthingsd.com/20131203/google-acquired-seven-robotic...
  - mturmon 13y ago
gfodor 13y ago
ok, so it's pretty obvious mainstream robotics' time is finally coming. growing up, I could teach myself many facets of software engineering with nothing more than a few books and a computer, and build all kinds of interesting projects that I could use myself and share with others, like games, utilities, web sites, etc. this analogue doesn't seem to be there for learning robotics. if I hack on a robotics project, it feels like it's going to be more of a toy or a demo, and it is self contained and not something that I can share with others to use. sure, I can spend time getting a robot to solve a simple puzzle, navigate a maze, or whatever, but these types of projects seem so less motivating compared to the types of things that got me into coding in the first place: things I could share with others and that they would enjoy using. Are there projects like this? What are some robotics projects that I can build and learn from while and actually use and enjoy, today, relatively cheaply? I want to learn this stuff but it feels very forced to find that most projects seem very academic in nature and not "shippable" like even the most basic toy projects I did when starting out. I went through Thurn's self-driving car class and started the mobile robot control course on Coursera, but the apex of these is at best a simple little robot platform moving around my house sensing tape on the floor. Even that will cost me $1000, in practice I will probably end up with just a simulation on my PC. Mindstorms looks cool but almost by definition it is just a toy. When can I build a robot that will perform real, useful automation that will improve my life, even in some marginal way, not just seem like a cool toy? How can I build a robot that will fetch me a beer or let the dog out or get the mail or something even minor that will make me feel like I am doing something with purpose and a real goal and not a homework assignment to get a robot to perform some meaningless task.
- malandrew 13y ago
  I too would absolutely love to know how you can get involved with robotics as a hobby without spending and arm and a leg (assuming I have access to a workshop equipment like at TechShop or NoiseBridge).
  - m_ke 13y ago
    Get a kinetic, put some wheels on it and then get ROS/PCL running on it.
eigenvalue 13y ago
I have a funny feeling we will be reading about this in history books in 50 years.
shania123 13y ago
For how much?
e12e 13y ago
"Imagine a jetline with a pilot that never makes a mistake, never gets tired, never shows up to work with a hangover." (he taps the prototype) "Meet the pilot." -- Miles Dyson, Termintor 2
lolwutf 13y ago
Great. This company actually makes awesome things. I really hope Google doesn't ruin them.
shirro 13y ago
I guess when you are building killer dog robots for the defence department "Do No Evil" becomes more of an ironic catchphrase than a statement of principles.
- cdash 13y ago
  Well yeah I guess if you count robotic mules as killer dogs.
  - mcintyre1994 13y ago
    Did you miss them clearly 'weaponising' bigdog? :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptyV1cpE14o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptyV1cpE14o
hazelnut 13y ago
Hopefully Google is cancelling all military contracts. Otherwise they will become part of the military industry which would be their worst decision.
sentenza 13y ago
Does this mean that Google is now a military supplier? They explicitly state that they would continue selling under existing contracts but that they "did not plan to move toward becoming a military contractor on its own." To me, this sounds half-hearted. What does "on its own" even mean in that context? Those BD robots scare the crap out of me. When the Big Dog video appeared, my first thought (within five seconds of seeing it move) was: Combat robot.
- agumonkey 13y ago
  IIUC they're logistic aid, 4 legged all-terrain cars. ps: I don't think there are, but well what do I know, direct development of 'attack robots' beside drones. Some unspoken fear of things going too easily out of control maybe.
  - gaius 13y ago
    If you can build a self driving car, you can build a self driving tank. The tank is probably easier. It can just go through obstacles.
    - agumonkey 13y ago
      Different classes of vehicles. A robot is much smaller and versatile than a tank.
      - gaius 13y ago
        How big does a tank need to be without a crew?
linux_devil 13y ago
This is the link to Wildcat video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE3fmFTtP9g#t=69 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE3fmFTtP9g#t=69 , one of the product of Boston dynamics.
wyclif 13y ago
It's only a matter of time until one of these things kills a person.
spiritplumber 13y ago
http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm "Within a year they had two demonstration projects that got a lot of media attention. The first was an autonomous humanoid robot that, given an apartment number, could walk through a city, find the building, ride the elevator or walk up the steps and knock on that apartment door. The second was a car that could drive itself door-to-door in rush hour traffic without any human intervention. By combining the walking robot and the self-driving car, the researchers demonstrated a completely robotic delivery system for a pizza restaurant. In a widely reported publicity stunt, the research team ordered a pizza and had it delivered by robot to their lab 25 minutes later."
salient 13y ago
Google really is building Skynet, isn't it? And the Terminators, too... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD6Okylclb8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD6Okylclb8
hai_all 13y ago
It is the eighth robotic company that Google has acquired in the past 6 months. And, Boston Dynamics had created lot of interesting robots such as WildCat, Cheetah, Atlas, Petman and Big Dog. We can see highlights of them at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4OCko9Ws6M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4OCko9Ws6M
lispm 13y ago
DEFENSE Advanced Research Projects Agency is financing the development of robots for disaster relief. Yeah, sure. I totally believe that. More likely: In 2020 they will fight on the outskirts of Teheran, after the bombing of the nuclear facilities in Bushehr.
madaxe_again 13y ago
It's only a matter of time before the Nexus 6 becomes a reality.
sandstrom 13y ago
Is this a hint of what the 'military-internet complex' could be? Amazon (through AWS) is already earning quite a bit of revenue from defence/military/nsa contracts (although I assume it's still negligible amounts).
neals 13y ago
What does this mean for robots.txt?
emocakes 13y ago
Don't be evil Google.
scotty79 13y ago
That's why you build multi-billion dollar corporation. If you see cool stuff on the internet you can just go and buy a company that makes it.
- noonespecial 13y ago
  The problem with that is, just like when you capture cool animals in the wild and bring them home, how do you keep them from dying in captivity?
contextual 13y ago
Welcome to The GOOG. You will be assimilated. ~Raymond Kurzweil
mariusz79 13y ago
What about competition? Does anyone else think that so much power in one hands is not good for us?
joering2 13y ago
If you know what both companies are capable of separately and how evil they are, then this news is probably one of the most important and most frightening news of this century. There is NOTHING good for humans that can come out of it. Period.
plg 13y ago
organizing the world's information .... with robots???
- plg 13y ago
  seriously though, I guess possible reasons for this acquisition are: 1. google realizes that robot technology is rapidly advancing, and they want to hold relevant patents 2. google somehow is thinking of extending the idea of google-now, i.e. a personal (virtual) digital assistant, towards actual physical (robotic) assistants 3. something else?
jjm 13y ago
When I first saw the Google barges, the first thing I thought to myself was that It was a testing ground for Robotics. Multi-pedal, wheeled, and arial robots. I still hold to it until they show pictures from the inside. :-)
rurban 13y ago
Google is going now after DOD (defense = war) contracts? This is frightening indeed.
salient 13y ago
The "don't be evil" mantra is going to be an order of magnitude more important in the future, than it has been so far - that is if Google still cares about following that mantra.
minutetominute 13y ago
Has anyone else read Avogadro Corp? Software created at Avogadro Corp (an obvious play on google) becomes self-aware and, unbeknownst to anyone, begins to order military robots to defend important off-shore data centers from pirates. However, the defensive robots do serve the secondary purpose in that if the artificially intelligent software is discovered and is to be destroyed, then these machines are to defend the AI. Just an interesting instance of life imitating art.
tedd4u 13y ago
When I saw the Amazon video, what I really wanted was a WildCat army running through the streets delivering packages … now it may happen!
sown 13y ago
i hate being too stupid to be involved with any of this.
doctoboggan 13y ago
> Although the videos frequently inspire comments that the robots will evolve into scary killing machines straight out of the “Terminator” movies, Dr. Raibert has said in the past that he does not consider his company to be a military contractor — it is merely trying to advance robotics technology. His company _is_ a military contractor. This willful ignorance is very dangerous. It is so easy for engineers and scientists to just say they are working on cool technology, not intending for it to be used as machines of war. As a profession we need to open our eyes and acknowledge that much of our work is being used for military purposes. (Especially if the military is the one paying for it!) EDIT: Yes, I agree that some people are fully aware of what their work is being used for. If they support it then it's their decision. It is just dangerous if we try to hind behind the veil of pure pursuit of knowledge, and ignore the reality of the situation. We, the builders of this technology, need to deal with the ethical situations before they get out of hand. I think robotocists need to develop an analog to the hippocratic oath, and embrace it as a profession.
- samirahmed 13y ago
  Just to clarify, I agree with you that any company that is funded by the military is technically a military contracter. But the term has deeply negative connotation. Anybody who is involved with DARPA funded research. In this case it might be a little easier to the see the parallels between a robot and a war machine. The Internet itself was a DARPA funded, as was GPS and they can both be seen as tools in war at least as this was there initial intent. So while that does classify those who worked on them as military contractors, it is important to understand that its not necessarily a negative label and the benefits are sometimes felt years onwards after the military tech trickles down.
  - yohui 13y ago
    > The Internet itself was a DARPA funded, as was GPS and they can both be seen as tools in war at least as this was there initial intent. Which started back when they were still just ARPA, the "Advanced Research Projects Agency". It's a bit aggravating that they had to tack on "Defense", as if their achievements weren't justification enough, but I suppose dissuading Congress from killing your budget is an important pragmatic concern.
X4 13y ago
ok, now I'm a little afraid. The self driving car + mega ships + quantum computers + boston dynamics = what, war drones?
msoad 13y ago
Some thing that sets U.S. apart from other countries for innovation is that 1 trillion dollar military budget. That gives U.S. military enough money and time to spend on "moon shot" researches like this. I'm no fan of spending a lot of money on military but hey, that's how all of these crazy non-sense research spending happen that no one will ever pay for it. Imagine if Boston Dynamic was a startup and asked for money for their research from a VC! I'm not sure about this, but I heard that the Internet itself benefited from U.S. military budget at it's beginning.
noonespecial 13y ago
Every once in a while you find a headline as you skim down HN that makes you go "Ah.. Wait-What?! Oh. OH! Oooooohhhh...". This is surely one of them. There were 2 of these today already for me(1). (1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25356603 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25356603
eonil 13y ago
Cyberdyne?
bnzelener 13y ago
Coming next year: TrailView BigDogs with streetview camera systems. Oh my.
DonGateley 13y ago
Preemptive monopoly on the inevitable. If you can afford it, why not? The only question is whether it can ever be cheap enough to reap the kind of profit Google is used to.
chupakabra 13y ago
(sticking ''robots.txt'' to front door)
milkers 13y ago
I just do not like that news. Google tries to have and control everything.
etler 13y ago
I can't wait until I can ride to work in my self driving giant robot spider vehicle.

799 points by dshankar 13y ago

Aha, Boston Dynamics has such wild repertoire of robots. Well done. Forget Big Dog, I like this robot a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b4ZZQkcNEo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b4ZZQkcNEo Maps, Self-Driving car, robots and a high quality analytics team. On top of that, robotic team comprises of various reputed groups with talented well regarded individuals. I look forward to the future. Also, how much disparity will arise in quality of living between North America and various Asian countries, or even Europe.

tonyarkles 13y ago
When I saw the headline, I was thinking to myself "I'm sure I've heard of these guys before" and then I remembered the Sand Flea. Such a cool little guy! Thanks for the video, it fills me with awe every time I see it.

batbomb 13y ago

So is google going to start supplying the DoD when the DARPA projects graduate?

sitkack 13y ago
Good thing they have that first law that prevents them from doing evil.
- venomsnake 13y ago
  But not preventing them from introducing "bugs". I wonder when will we see first robot genocide? In 10 years? 20?
  - nomedeplume 13y ago
    30
  - mladenkovacevic 13y ago
    Whenever it happens I am sure it will be fully democratic and completely lawful.
  - sitkack 13y ago
    It probably already happened in the 80s (Nicaragua, Honduras or Panama) with a partially automated AC130 gunship.
    - dm2 13y ago
      What part of an AC130 is automated?
      - sitkack 13y ago
        The smaller more asymmetric military operations are often used to test prototype weapons. My response about automated genocide is that it most likely already happened. And I can't think of a better testbed than an AC130 gunship for an automatic aiming system, the operators only see thermal blobs anyway. Not like this, http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/robot-cannon-ki/ http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/robot-cannon-ki/ This would be trivial to automate https://archive.org/details/AC-130_Gunship_Ops_in_Afghanistan_HighResolution https://archive.org/details/AC-130_Gunship_Ops_in_Afghanista...
        dm2 13y ago
        Wow, I hadn't heard of that story, truly scary stuff. This video was linked to in that article, http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/video-robo-weap/ http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/video-robo-weap/ hopefully every soldier, programmer, and engineer working on these systems has to watch similar videos so that they know the importance of getting this stuff right.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- mirkules 13y ago
  First law: "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." (Only applicable to sentient robots, of course) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics
yeukhon 13y ago
I don't think that's necessarily a negative thing, just because it's Google. Think about how many university professors receive grants from DoD. How many of them are actually purely for science? They are all practical.
- twelve40 13y ago
  > grants from DoD ... They are all practical You'd be surprised. I've done a couple of grants for projects that ended up being completely open to public and DoD didn't really give a shit about, despite providing some sweet funding for them. But Google... that's a different story.
  - yeukhon 13y ago
    I think you missed my implication to his response. The way he put it is that Google is evil so when it moves to DoD and it must be evil, and I say that's not necessarily true just because Google being Google.
stdgy 13y ago
The article states that they said that while they intend to honor Boston Dynamic's current government contracts, Google is not interested in becoming a government contractor.
- psbp 13y ago
  They're just interested in becoming the government.

brd 13y ago

Reading the headline the first words out my mouth were "holy shit" Not only does this bring some serious engineering talent to Google's robotics initiative, this acquisition should create some interesting new interactions between Google and the government moving forward.

1qaz2wsx3edc 13y ago
My first thoughts were along: "Nope" and "This is how the robopocalypse starts". Google & BD are both researching machine learning, it only makes sense for Google to buy them.
- thibauts 13y ago
  Both will sure gain from each other talents and data. Robotics for the self-driving car, and a brain for the humanoïds. Aweso... well not so much.
  - jol 13y ago
    I'm so glad to see that, that I am not the only person with such dual reaction - This is sooo awsomme tech! & ok, were it is going might not be so cool at the end...
- shiloa 13y ago
  Agreed - My first reaction was "Google == Cyberdyne Systems". I hope a lot of good comes out of this, but I cannot help but think of worst case scenarios. Then again, maybe I consume too much sci-fi movies and books.
  - jfoster 13y ago
    It doesn't help that the robots produced by BD look a bit like the ones from "robots versus humans" movies. This acquisition feels a bit scary, but also very exciting. In reality, self-awareness is probably far enough away that we don't have much to worry about for now.

BIair 13y ago

Asimov added a 4th law: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. Is it just me, or is, "don't be evil" a little too close for comfort?

thibauts 13y ago
It's all right. If adopted, the second part has provision for protecting us from terrorists. I can relax now.
troymc 13y ago
That would be the "Zeroth Law", zeroth because it supersedes all the others. A version of it first showed up in Asimov's short story "The Evitable Conflict": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Evitable_Conflict https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Evitable_Conflict https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeroth_Law_of_Robotics#Zeroth_Law_added https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeroth_Law_of_Robotics#Zeroth_... If you give robots autonomy, they inevitably end up having to make moral decisions. For example, "Should I, an autonomous car, run over the elderly man or the girl with terminal cancer, those being the only two options?" Asimov's laws (initially suggested by an editor, John W. Campbell) were a first pass at some principles for decision-making. Others have since devised more elaborate ones.
- PavlovsCat 13y ago
  It's all still just words. No two humans could ever fully agree on what constitutes "harm", racist ones would even debate who is "human". It's like everybody has the public methods what_is_harm() and what_is_a_human(), but how they're implemented matters, not the function signature. The laws of robots are just placeholders for something that never got written. Words are tricky. What if robots decide that the best way to avoid harm coming to humans is to prevent any being born? So that means you have to rephrase it, into something like maximizing human happiness. Oh no, now they're injecting everyone with drugs and cloning humans by the planetfull. What now? Actual source or it didn't happen.. just creating an empty file called solution_to_the_problem.txt doesn't work, I tried it.
  - 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

madiator 13y ago

I feel like robotics in a few years is what big data is today. So what is it that one should be doing to get ready to jump into robotics in a few years?

dsl 13y ago
You mean everyone and their grandmother will be a robotics expert? Most of the people I run into today working on "big data" could still effectively fit the workloads in a single powerful MySQL box.
- madiator 13y ago
  May be thats true, but it is irrelevant to my question.
DigitalJack 13y ago
arduino, lego mindstorms, linear algebra Actually, a lot of the math for 3d game engines transfers directly to robotics. Matrix coordinate transformation to/from each joint to figure out where/how to place it.
textminer 13y ago
Pragmatic question: I'm a mathematician by training, and currently a machine learning engineer at a large Silicon Valley company. How does one in their late twenties jump into really working robotics? Machine learning was something I could watch lectures on, read papers about, work the math out on paper, then spend years in Python/C++ getting a feel for across various problem domains. Physical robots don't seem as accessible.
- nl 13y ago
  Computer Vision is a good gateway. Also, play with Arduino some.
- Qworg 13y ago
  Sensors. All robots need sensors and your math background will serve you well.

ChuckMcM 13y ago

This seems like a stretch. I am a big fan of robotics, and I get the Hard Problem appeal but it doesn't seem like a good use of Google's funds. It does make for some interesting speculation though.

Qworg 13y ago
Wouldn't you say they're looking for their "next business"? Why not robots? Higher barrier to entry, untapped market. It is a place where a ton of capital can really shine.
- olefoo 13y ago
  So why wasn't Apple in there bidding against them? I could actually see Apple doing a rather good job with robots. Making sleek, stylish efficient (servant|killing) machines... On a more sober note. I see Apple as being likely to go after the home automation market. In fact I wouldn't be too surprised if they partnered up with an RV manufacturer to try out technology for the "iHome".
  - Qworg 13y ago
    In truth, I don't know why no one else is bidding in. Perhaps it seems too risky or too outside the core business. As for home automation, sure. I cannot see why these companies aren't trying to stake out the Internet of Things in the home more.
- ChuckMcM 13y ago
  Well to some extent they are always looking for the next business. And discarding as 'useless' $100M/yr businesses because they didn't show up in the numbers when your annual revenue is $60+B a year. Robotics isn't a 'smart gap' market (where if only smart people would focus on it they could dominate it) there are lots of brilliant people already toiling away there. It isn't an advertising market. In Asimov's vision of the future the robotics company that developed the positronic brain is the dominant corporation in the galaxy, and perhaps Larry is working on a positronic brain equivalent. But who knows. Maybe they are afraid of Bezo's drone army, or Musk's rockets. But why Boston Dynamics and not iRobot? Why a fragment of Willow Garage and not Neato? Why a self driving car but not Tesla? Lots of questions. Its a fun puzzle to try to solve.

Qworg 13y ago

Robotics is multifaceted and difficult in all of them. Boston Dynamics is probably the best place in the world for motion dynamics, gaits, and walking mechanics. I'm amazed, but I suppose I shouldn't be - Google made a great choice.

jblock 13y ago

HN gets a lot of post about acquisitions and whatnot, but I feel this is probably one of the most important in recent memory. The implications of taking this talent into consumer robotics (or augmenting their presence in the defense community) will ripple through the tech world.

rch 13y ago
Yup. Absolutely agreed. I really didn't expect this.
aaronsnoswell 13y ago
Couldn't agree more - I would rate this as the second most important news item this year, after the NSA revelations.
mortenjorck 13y ago
It's amazing because it's so clearly, wildly complementary: Google becomes the prefrontal cortex to Boston Dynamics' robotic central nervous systems. I can't see this pairing as anything other than the beginning of the world of sci-fi robotics.
- salient 13y ago
  Which often doesn't end well.
  - jodrellblank 13y ago
    It "often doesn't end well"? It hasn't ever happened! Stories about it often end in a way that makes for a good story. That's not saying the same thing at all.
    - hershel 13y ago
      There's a basis in reality for those. many powerful technologies have been used in the fast for "evil".

jacques_chester 13y ago

Google is building one hell of a robotics patent portfolio.

geolisto 13y ago
I 2nd that. Given this is the eighth company to be acquired by Google in the last 6 months this will be interesting to see where Google takes this.

asadotzler 13y ago

Google eats brains!

SmileyKeith 13y ago

Having just watched this video[0] of some of their work this stuff is just amazing. I can't wait to see what Google does with it. Also this is what makes Google such an awesome company from a computer science perspective IMO. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRsrwumQ&feature=youtu.be&t=56s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRsrwumQ&feature=youtu.be...

joelle 13y ago

Google acquired something else? Shocking!

rodly 13y ago

So does this mean Google will possibly move out of the search and advertising business within 5-10-15 years due to low margins and what have you?

adventured 13y ago
As funny as that is, their core business has extremely high margins. If all Google did is run their search engine and ad business, they'd have a 50%+ net income margin. For fiscal 2010, they printed $8.5b in net income on $29.5b in sales (28.8%). That's with all the other things they do that don't have good margins (or lose money) eating up their core margin. Very few things have better margins than software (Microsoft once hit a 41% net margin, for fiscal 2000; nothing better than software monopoly margins).
- aaronblohowiak 13y ago
  >Very few things have better margins than software Ad business and search engine are not selling software.
  - adventured 13y ago
    I didn't say selling software. I said very few things have higher margins than software. Google's search engine and ad platforms are software systems, and Google is a software company first and foremost; they always have been, and always will be. The extrapolated principle is obvious here. Google writes it once, and scales it toward infinity. The same principle worked for Microsoft with Windows; the same principle is at work for Salesforce.com or Facebook or Oracle, regardless of what we call it ("cloud"). This principle is what makes most software so profitable, per user there's usually nothing to uniquely manufacture or create. With scale margins properly skyrocket. So whether we're talking about software search, or software retail, or an ad business built on software (eg Google's hyper automated ad system) or software services, the difference doesn't matter much.

robomartin 13y ago

My childhood dream was to buid robots. I left that dream when I realized doing robotics mostly meant industrial arms and pick-and-place machines. Seeing developments over the last few years is inspiring, to say the least. Maybe it's time to consider coming back in.

cLeEOGPw 13y ago
No, it's not. If you want to build robots at home you will have to accept they will be vacuum cleaner level robots. For "real" robotics we need better software for controlling robot body. And that requires artificial brain. And we don't know yet how to build it, because we don't know how our brain works in enough detail yet.

dm2 13y ago

http://www.youtube.com/user/BostonDynamics http://www.youtube.com/user/BostonDynamics Here is a link to Boston Dynamics' YouTube channel in case any of you want to see some of the amazing robots they've built over the years. Boston Dynamics' robot knowledge (and patents) combined with Google ability to create awesome software, such as their self-driving car, will be a great combination. I'm not sure where going is going with all of these recent acquisitions. Home and office robots to make our lives easier? What in the heck are they up to at Google X? The US DoD probably doesn't like this too much, considering that Google stated that they do not want to step into the government contracting sector. Boston Dynamics seemed like one of the most promising contractors for DARPA in the robotics industry. IMO it's only a matter of time before Google steps into the cyborg industry. It's almost scary to think about, but it's inevitable and at least Google has some experience in dealing with products and services that are controversial, such as data privacy. I was about to rip on Apple for not doing anything innovative or even remotely interesting in years, but it's sad to see all of that money be wasted on rounded corners, perfecting fonts, and scrolling animations.

DigitalJack 13y ago
Apple had the same issue re government contracting when the bought PA-semi. The honored existing contracts and made no new ones afaik.
geuis 13y ago
When Google starts investing/buying into companies doing bio-compatible materials, this is when we'll see they are moving to cybernetics. It's the basic research that is started before big advances in the field appear.
kalleboo 13y ago
> it's sad to see all of that money be wasted on rounded corners, perfecting fonts, and scrolling animations. It may seem like a waste from a technocratic point of view, but it's probably worth it just for popularizing and normalizing technology. If we didn't have that bump in style and usability in smartphones/tablets, people would be less comfortable with carrying around the internet in their pocket, there'd be less demand for tech like 4G, etc. Now people's minds are a bit more open to pervasive tech, and it may help adoption of whatever tech BD+Google develops.

flywheel 13y ago

skynet

avenger123 13y ago

The video for the robot running is just Wow. Really amazing. I thought I had seen all this before. Then it clicked. Only in the movies. To see it real like this, really amazing. All you need is a nice dog custome over it.

clockwerkelf 13y ago

We should all be very concerned about this. Ray Kurzweil, who is a Google executive, hopes that one day machines will achieve 'singularity'. If this ever happens, and it just might, humanity will be replaced by machines. The Matrix would literally become reality.

jodrellblank 13y ago
Are you just stringing words together by rolling dice here? If the planets align with Saggittarius, and they just might, crystal chakra energy will release thetans and quantum bio vibrations will slaughter thousands. Sylvia Browne's dreams will literally become reality. 1. In the Matrix, humans were not replaced by machines. 2. The Matrix was not a post-singularity world 3. Ray Kurzweil hopes humans will achieve {some kind of singularity}( it's not clearly defined) for the benefit of humans. 4. This news is about physical moving robots, it's the less relevant part. If you fear self improving AI then Google's usual software work should be what you panic about.
- clockworkelf 13y ago
  Are you Ray Kurzweil's personal assistant? If not, then I'm amazed you can read his mind. You're naive to think that the combination of Google and the work of a military robotics contractor is benign.
  - jodrellblank 13y ago
    I cite Ray Kurzweil's website, a questions and answers session written by Ray Kurzweil: Intelligent nanorobots will be deeply integrated in our bodies, our brains, and our environment, overcoming pollution and poverty, providing vastly extended longevity, full-immersion virtual reality incorporating all of the senses (like The Matrix), “experience beaming” (like “Being John Malkovich”), and vastly enhanced human intelligence. - http://www.kurzweilai.net/singularity-q-a http://www.kurzweilai.net/singularity-q-a This is not "humans being replaced by machines". All these claimed things are beneficial for people. You claim he actually wants something different to what he says, why do you think that? You're naive to think that the combination of Google and the work of a military robotics contractor is benign This is just throwing an insult at me. You aren't addressing any of the points I raised about your disconnected reasoning and flawed comparisons.

sneak 13y ago

Does "don't be evil" mean "don't build robots that the government will use to kill or harm people"? It would be nice to see some clarification on this from Google management. There's only so far you can go in high end robotics research before the pentagon comes a-knocking with wheelbarrows of freshly printed money. in b4 "skynet"

GuiA 13y ago
Google's "Don't be evil" carries no more weight than your local mechanic's "The best car shop in town!". It's cheap branding.
- sneak 13y ago
  You and I know this, but I imagine there are many Googlers who take it to heart, and the cognitive dissonance involved in their building war machines may be useful to our ends of reducing American-perpetrated violence.
  - cromwellian 13y ago
    How about we wait until Google actually starts building such weapons before we start accusing them of actually wanting to do so.
    - sneak 13y ago
      What makes you think we'd ever be told?
    - PavlovsCat 13y ago
      How about we wait until someone actually accuses Google of that before we accuse them of accusing Google of that.
    - ams6110 13y ago
      It is flatly impossible to build such devices and prevent them from being weaponized.

tylerlh 13y ago

This is huge and speaks volumes to Google's seriousness about robotics moving forward. My favorite from Boston Dynamics impressive creations is the Sandflea. http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_sandflea.html http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_sandflea.html

maibaum 13y ago

There is no doubt in my mind: this is an acquisition that will change the world

mgulaid 13y ago

Holy shit.. this is huge.. This would give google huge advantage in robotics. What scare me that google is creeping into critical areas of modern life. And they usually dominate every field they enter.

tesseractive 13y ago
Like social networking? Smartphone manufacturing? Ebooks? There are plenty of fields that Google has entered that they haven't dominated.
- amaks 13y ago
  You'll be surprised, but Google dominates social networking. Don't forget about YT.
  - scholia 13y ago
    YouTube isn't really a social network.
    - amaks 13y ago
      Why not? It has all properties of a social network. Is Instagram a social network? Pinterest? Same principles, different look. It doesn't have to have "friends" to be a social network, you know.
      - scholia 13y ago
        Most of YouTube doesn't work as a social network, and most YouTube users don't use it for social networking. I don't find the argument from features compelling because so many different services have the same features. On a broad definition, there are millions of social networking sites, but on a broad definition, the term becomes so close to meaningless that it doesn't tell you anything useful.

dsl 13y ago

This now makes Google a DoD contractor.

mortehu 13y ago
Nope, already was: http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-office-365-and-google-apps-face-off-in-dod-contract-7000022152/ http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-office-365-and-google-apps-fa...

bobosha 13y ago

anyone know what the price that Google paid? I know they haven't disclosed it, but any guesstimates?

hawkharris 13y ago

A few years ago I enrolled in a four-month investigative journalism program. My challenge was to find an interesting character and embed myself with the person, writing about his or her life and career. I ended up running into an engineer from Boston Dynamics and spent four months writing about his unique approach to solving problems. The engineer, Jon, who worked on Big Dog as well as Rise, was one of the coolest and most inspirational people I've met. He explained how he struggled with dyslexia as a kid, and engineering, being more right brain-oriented, was a vehicle that allowed him to succeed despite his disability. In fact, he later took a huge salary cut so he could become a high school teacher and teach engineering to kids, especially those with dyslexia. But getting back to the issue at hand, I really enjoyed learning about Boston Dynamics during the four months I spent working on the story, and I think Google made a smart decision.

skybrian 13y ago
Interesting. Do you have a link to the story?
- hawkharris 13y ago
  Hey, thanks for your interest. :) Here's a link: http://codynedromano.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/vertices/ http://codynedromano.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/vertices/
officialjunk 13y ago
do you happen to mean jon clark? i helped work with him on RiSE :) can't believe it's been almost 8 years now. i wasn't working with the robotics directly, though, but studying animal locomotion (measuring foot forces, CM, roll/pitch/yaw ...). good times
- ivoflipse 13y ago
  Do you happen to have any reports or theses about the animal locomotion studies? I'm currently working on a similar topic (https://github.com/ivoflipse/Pawlabeling/ https://github.com/ivoflipse/Pawlabeling/) and its always good to learn from past experiences.

troymc 13y ago

I wonder if this new generation of robots might be able to do certain kinds of agriculture which, until now, have resisted automation, such as coffee harvesting on steep hillsides.

mimighost 13y ago

This is huge. It is cutting-edge, hardcore technology. Worth so much more than Snapchat-like hype (ironically, may be even much cheaper). Well done, Google.

Oculus 13y ago

Does anyone know what Google is brewing with their new army of robot engineers/companies? I'm obviously not expecting the correct answer (anyone who know's certainly wouldn't be able to say), but I am curious what others speculate.

Istof 13y ago
Robots that help around the house. Of course they will have cameras and microphones transmitting data to the "cloud" for navigation (and targeted ads that will be projected on walls, etc by the robot)

kken 13y ago

>It is the eighth robotics company that Google has acquired in the last half-year. This is a crazy aggressive acquisition strategy. Does anybody have a list of the other companies? Where could google be heading to? They already have self-driving cars and a big stake in Uber. Somehow I am missing a connection to a manufacturer that already has an established stake in the vehicle/robotics industry. All they have so far are design companies.

jjoonathan 13y ago
Maybe they're "headed to" robotic construction? It would certainly leverage Google's strengths as a machine learning / AI company. If they can buy up a bunch of robotics companies and get there first, they might just capture a market that makes search look tiny.
- XorNot 13y ago
  Well anyone who can reliably get around-the-house helper robots into people's homes is going to be the next-next megacorp.
btown 13y ago
If Google is the only one with robotics technology, then it can name its terms when dealing with vehicle manufacturers, because they will need to be able to license it to remain cutting-edge. By not acquiring/having a formal stake in the automobile industry, it limits its risk (since we all know how risky that business is now!).
vitobcn 13y ago
From [1]: Google bought seven robotics companies in the past six months - Schaft, Industrial Perception, Meka, Redwood Robotics, Bot & Dolly, Autofuss and Holomni - [1] : http://allthingsd.com/20131203/google-acquired-seven-robotics-companies-for-andy-rubin/ http://allthingsd.com/20131203/google-acquired-seven-robotic...
- mturmon 13y ago

gfodor 13y ago

ok, so it's pretty obvious mainstream robotics' time is finally coming. growing up, I could teach myself many facets of software engineering with nothing more than a few books and a computer, and build all kinds of interesting projects that I could use myself and share with others, like games, utilities, web sites, etc. this analogue doesn't seem to be there for learning robotics. if I hack on a robotics project, it feels like it's going to be more of a toy or a demo, and it is self contained and not something that I can share with others to use. sure, I can spend time getting a robot to solve a simple puzzle, navigate a maze, or whatever, but these types of projects seem so less motivating compared to the types of things that got me into coding in the first place: things I could share with others and that they would enjoy using. Are there projects like this? What are some robotics projects that I can build and learn from while and actually use and enjoy, today, relatively cheaply? I want to learn this stuff but it feels very forced to find that most projects seem very academic in nature and not "shippable" like even the most basic toy projects I did when starting out. I went through Thurn's self-driving car class and started the mobile robot control course on Coursera, but the apex of these is at best a simple little robot platform moving around my house sensing tape on the floor. Even that will cost me $1000, in practice I will probably end up with just a simulation on my PC. Mindstorms looks cool but almost by definition it is just a toy. When can I build a robot that will perform real, useful automation that will improve my life, even in some marginal way, not just seem like a cool toy? How can I build a robot that will fetch me a beer or let the dog out or get the mail or something even minor that will make me feel like I am doing something with purpose and a real goal and not a homework assignment to get a robot to perform some meaningless task.

malandrew 13y ago
I too would absolutely love to know how you can get involved with robotics as a hobby without spending and arm and a leg (assuming I have access to a workshop equipment like at TechShop or NoiseBridge).
- m_ke 13y ago
  Get a kinetic, put some wheels on it and then get ROS/PCL running on it.

eigenvalue 13y ago

I have a funny feeling we will be reading about this in history books in 50 years.

shania123 13y ago

For how much?

e12e 13y ago

"Imagine a jetline with a pilot that never makes a mistake, never gets tired, never shows up to work with a hangover." (he taps the prototype) "Meet the pilot." -- Miles Dyson, Termintor 2

lolwutf 13y ago

Great. This company actually makes awesome things. I really hope Google doesn't ruin them.

shirro 13y ago

I guess when you are building killer dog robots for the defence department "Do No Evil" becomes more of an ironic catchphrase than a statement of principles.

cdash 13y ago
Well yeah I guess if you count robotic mules as killer dogs.
- mcintyre1994 13y ago
  Did you miss them clearly 'weaponising' bigdog? :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptyV1cpE14o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptyV1cpE14o

hazelnut 13y ago

Hopefully Google is cancelling all military contracts. Otherwise they will become part of the military industry which would be their worst decision.

sentenza 13y ago

Does this mean that Google is now a military supplier? They explicitly state that they would continue selling under existing contracts but that they "did not plan to move toward becoming a military contractor on its own." To me, this sounds half-hearted. What does "on its own" even mean in that context? Those BD robots scare the crap out of me. When the Big Dog video appeared, my first thought (within five seconds of seeing it move) was: Combat robot.

agumonkey 13y ago
IIUC they're logistic aid, 4 legged all-terrain cars. ps: I don't think there are, but well what do I know, direct development of 'attack robots' beside drones. Some unspoken fear of things going too easily out of control maybe.
- gaius 13y ago
  If you can build a self driving car, you can build a self driving tank. The tank is probably easier. It can just go through obstacles.
  - agumonkey 13y ago
    Different classes of vehicles. A robot is much smaller and versatile than a tank.
    - gaius 13y ago
      How big does a tank need to be without a crew?

linux_devil 13y ago

This is the link to Wildcat video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE3fmFTtP9g#t=69 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE3fmFTtP9g#t=69 , one of the product of Boston dynamics.

wyclif 13y ago

It's only a matter of time until one of these things kills a person.

spiritplumber 13y ago

http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm "Within a year they had two demonstration projects that got a lot of media attention. The first was an autonomous humanoid robot that, given an apartment number, could walk through a city, find the building, ride the elevator or walk up the steps and knock on that apartment door. The second was a car that could drive itself door-to-door in rush hour traffic without any human intervention. By combining the walking robot and the self-driving car, the researchers demonstrated a completely robotic delivery system for a pizza restaurant. In a widely reported publicity stunt, the research team ordered a pizza and had it delivered by robot to their lab 25 minutes later."

salient 13y ago

Google really is building Skynet, isn't it? And the Terminators, too... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD6Okylclb8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD6Okylclb8

hai_all 13y ago

It is the eighth robotic company that Google has acquired in the past 6 months. And, Boston Dynamics had created lot of interesting robots such as WildCat, Cheetah, Atlas, Petman and Big Dog. We can see highlights of them at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4OCko9Ws6M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4OCko9Ws6M

lispm 13y ago

DEFENSE Advanced Research Projects Agency is financing the development of robots for disaster relief. Yeah, sure. I totally believe that. More likely: In 2020 they will fight on the outskirts of Teheran, after the bombing of the nuclear facilities in Bushehr.

madaxe_again 13y ago

It's only a matter of time before the Nexus 6 becomes a reality.

sandstrom 13y ago

Is this a hint of what the 'military-internet complex' could be? Amazon (through AWS) is already earning quite a bit of revenue from defence/military/nsa contracts (although I assume it's still negligible amounts).

neals 13y ago

What does this mean for robots.txt?

emocakes 13y ago

Don't be evil Google.

scotty79 13y ago

That's why you build multi-billion dollar corporation. If you see cool stuff on the internet you can just go and buy a company that makes it.

noonespecial 13y ago
The problem with that is, just like when you capture cool animals in the wild and bring them home, how do you keep them from dying in captivity?

contextual 13y ago

Welcome to The GOOG. You will be assimilated. ~Raymond Kurzweil

mariusz79 13y ago

What about competition? Does anyone else think that so much power in one hands is not good for us?

joering2 13y ago

If you know what both companies are capable of separately and how evil they are, then this news is probably one of the most important and most frightening news of this century. There is NOTHING good for humans that can come out of it. Period.

plg 13y ago

organizing the world's information .... with robots???

plg 13y ago
seriously though, I guess possible reasons for this acquisition are: 1. google realizes that robot technology is rapidly advancing, and they want to hold relevant patents 2. google somehow is thinking of extending the idea of google-now, i.e. a personal (virtual) digital assistant, towards actual physical (robotic) assistants 3. something else?

jjm 13y ago

When I first saw the Google barges, the first thing I thought to myself was that It was a testing ground for Robotics. Multi-pedal, wheeled, and arial robots. I still hold to it until they show pictures from the inside. :-)

rurban 13y ago

Google is going now after DOD (defense = war) contracts? This is frightening indeed.

salient 13y ago

The "don't be evil" mantra is going to be an order of magnitude more important in the future, than it has been so far - that is if Google still cares about following that mantra.

minutetominute 13y ago

Has anyone else read Avogadro Corp? Software created at Avogadro Corp (an obvious play on google) becomes self-aware and, unbeknownst to anyone, begins to order military robots to defend important off-shore data centers from pirates. However, the defensive robots do serve the secondary purpose in that if the artificially intelligent software is discovered and is to be destroyed, then these machines are to defend the AI. Just an interesting instance of life imitating art.

tedd4u 13y ago

When I saw the Amazon video, what I really wanted was a WildCat army running through the streets delivering packages … now it may happen!

sown 13y ago

i hate being too stupid to be involved with any of this.

doctoboggan 13y ago

> Although the videos frequently inspire comments that the robots will evolve into scary killing machines straight out of the “Terminator” movies, Dr. Raibert has said in the past that he does not consider his company to be a military contractor — it is merely trying to advance robotics technology. His company _is_ a military contractor. This willful ignorance is very dangerous. It is so easy for engineers and scientists to just say they are working on cool technology, not intending for it to be used as machines of war. As a profession we need to open our eyes and acknowledge that much of our work is being used for military purposes. (Especially if the military is the one paying for it!) EDIT: Yes, I agree that some people are fully aware of what their work is being used for. If they support it then it's their decision. It is just dangerous if we try to hind behind the veil of pure pursuit of knowledge, and ignore the reality of the situation. We, the builders of this technology, need to deal with the ethical situations before they get out of hand. I think robotocists need to develop an analog to the hippocratic oath, and embrace it as a profession.

samirahmed 13y ago
Just to clarify, I agree with you that any company that is funded by the military is technically a military contracter. But the term has deeply negative connotation. Anybody who is involved with DARPA funded research. In this case it might be a little easier to the see the parallels between a robot and a war machine. The Internet itself was a DARPA funded, as was GPS and they can both be seen as tools in war at least as this was there initial intent. So while that does classify those who worked on them as military contractors, it is important to understand that its not necessarily a negative label and the benefits are sometimes felt years onwards after the military tech trickles down.
- yohui 13y ago
  > The Internet itself was a DARPA funded, as was GPS and they can both be seen as tools in war at least as this was there initial intent. Which started back when they were still just ARPA, the "Advanced Research Projects Agency". It's a bit aggravating that they had to tack on "Defense", as if their achievements weren't justification enough, but I suppose dissuading Congress from killing your budget is an important pragmatic concern.

X4 13y ago

ok, now I'm a little afraid. The self driving car + mega ships + quantum computers + boston dynamics = what, war drones?

msoad 13y ago

Some thing that sets U.S. apart from other countries for innovation is that 1 trillion dollar military budget. That gives U.S. military enough money and time to spend on "moon shot" researches like this. I'm no fan of spending a lot of money on military but hey, that's how all of these crazy non-sense research spending happen that no one will ever pay for it. Imagine if Boston Dynamic was a startup and asked for money for their research from a VC! I'm not sure about this, but I heard that the Internet itself benefited from U.S. military budget at it's beginning.

noonespecial 13y ago

Every once in a while you find a headline as you skim down HN that makes you go "Ah.. Wait-What?! Oh. OH! Oooooohhhh...". This is surely one of them. There were 2 of these today already for me(1). (1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25356603 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25356603

eonil 13y ago

Cyberdyne?

bnzelener 13y ago

Coming next year: TrailView BigDogs with streetview camera systems. Oh my.

DonGateley 13y ago

Preemptive monopoly on the inevitable. If you can afford it, why not? The only question is whether it can ever be cheap enough to reap the kind of profit Google is used to.

chupakabra 13y ago

(sticking ''robots.txt'' to front door)

milkers 13y ago

I just do not like that news. Google tries to have and control everything.

etler 13y ago

I can't wait until I can ride to work in my self driving giant robot spider vehicle.