Japanese tech giant SoftBank is acquiring robotics company Boston Dynamics from Alphabet for an undisclosed sum.
Boston Dynamics is best known for the videos it periodically posts on its YouTube page featuring its latest and strangest walking robots. Each video would quickly rack up millions of views.
Here's a video of its Atlas robot from last year:
SoftBank also announced it's acquiring Japanese robotics company Schaft.
Google has been trying to split with Boston Dynamics since at least early 2016. Founded in 1992 by Marc Raibert, Boston Dynamics emerged out of an MIT lab that specialized in building robots with legs. In 2013, Google bought Boston Dynamics for an undisclosed sum as part of a robot buying spree. Boston Dynamics and the other robotics companies were supposed to be wrapped up into a unit, called Replicant, overseen by Andy Rubin, the creator of the Android operating system. But Rubin left Google less than a year later before anything came of the effort.
“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," said Boston Dynamics CEO and founder Marc Raibert in a statement. "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.”
The acquisition comes as SoftBank's Masayoshi Son closed his $93 billion Vision Fund last month. With the largest tech fund ever, Son will focus on making big bets in artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and robotics, among other emerging technologies. SoftBank already owns UK-based chip designer ARM, which it acquired for $32 billion last year, and a small stake in graphics chipmaker Nvidia, which has become a dominant force in AI computing.
"Today, there are many issues we still cannot solve by ourselves with human capabilities," said SoftBank chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son in a statement. "Smart robotics are going to be a key driver of the next stage of the Information Revolution, and Marc and his team at Boston Dynamics are the clear technology leaders in advanced dynamic robots. I am thrilled to welcome them to the SoftBank family and look forward to supporting them as they continue to advance the field of robotics and explore applications that can help make life easier, safer and more fulfilling.”
