Softbank buys Boston Dynamics (and its robots) from Google
Softbank buys Boston Dynamics (and its robots) from Google The Japanese company has a 'vision of catalyzing the next wave of smart robotics.' Bipedal humanoid robot "Atlas", primarily developed by the American robotics company Boston Dynamics, practices tai chi during a news conference at the University of Hong Kong October 17, 2013. Siu Chiu / Reuters It's been over a year since we heard that Google's parent company Alphabet wanted to sell its robotics company Boston Dynamics, and now it has a buyer: Softbank. The Japanese company has been working on its own robots for years, including the helpful Pepper , and now they'll be under the same umbrella as Handle , Big Dog , Atlas , WildCat and all the rest. Google acquired the MIT spin-off in 2013 , when Andy Rubin was still still leading its robotics efforts instead of building his own phone. Along with Japan's SCHAFT (which dominated the 2013 DARPA challenge and is also bein