Google acquires robotics pioneer with Pentagon ties

Google confirmed over the weekend that it has acquired an engineering company with business ties to the U.S. military, Boston Dynamics, best known for its agile, animal-like robots like the Cheetah and BigDog and a series of eerily human-like creations purportedly designed to replace people in dangerous situations.

Google has confirmed it will honor Boston Dynamics’ contracts with the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, meaning that the tech giant is in effect a military contractor — although Google executives told The New York Times that it does not plan to become a military contractor in its own right.

Boston Dynamics, founded in 1992, has a $10.8 million contract with DARPA to produce several humanoid Atlas robots that could fill in for humans in hazardous disaster situations like a nuclear meltdown. The robots, which are coordinated enough to climb using their hands and feet, are set to debut at the DARPA Robotics Challenge in Florida next week.

The company also produces DI-Guy, a high-tech human simulation dummy widely used by the military for testing body armor and other gear.

The company’s founder, Marc Raibert, said that Google’s deep pockets might afford his group the ability to pursue ambitious projects.

“We’re excited by our merger into Google and looking forward to taking robotics the next couple of steps, working as part of Google’s gangbuster team,” he told Al Jazeera in an email. He did not comment further about the deal.

Based in Waltham, Mass., the company is the eighth robotics company that Google has purchased in the past six months without any clear explanation from company officials about what Google has in store for its growing cybernetic potential.

A statement from Andy Rubin, who invented the Android operating system and now heads Google’s robotics division, contained only a vague reference to the robots’ possible deployment in disaster contexts.

“Competitions like the DARPA Robotics Challenge stretch participants to try to solve problems that matter, and we hope to learn from the teams’ insights around disaster relief,” he said.

Google has taken on a number of disaster-relief initiatives, including Person Finder, which helped families reunite after last month’s devastating Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

But certain of Boston Dynamics robots do not easily fit into that mold. The Cheetah, for example, whose primary attribute is that it can run 29 mph — slightly faster than Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, widely regarded as the world’s fastest man.

Raibert has said his company is not interested in producing robotic killing machines. He told The New York Times that advancing his robots’ sensor technology is his next goal.

“I am excited by Andy and Google’s ability to think very, very big,” Raibert told The New York Times, “with the resources to make it happen.”

Google has not revealed any details of the acquisition, including how much it paid. The company did not reply to requests for comment.