The search giant buys a military robotics contractor. “Don’t be evil” meets the Department of Defense.
Tyrone Siu / Reuters
Google has acquired Boston Dynamics, creator of the BigDog, CHEETAH, and PETMAN robots, according the the New York Times. The purchase is Google's latest investment in advanced robotics — a new priority for the search company and one that it has recently added to its list of "moonshot" initiatives.
Boston Dynamics represents a new type of acquisition for Google. It is best known for projects that were carried out under military contracts, such as the tottering BigDog robot, a demonstration of which went viral in 2008:
BigDog's development was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is part of the Department of Defense. Boston Dynamics' other DARPA-funded projects include:
- CHEETAH, a four-legged robot that holds a land speed record
- PETMAN, a bipedal, humanoid robot that walks convincingly like a person
- RiSE, a wall-climbing bot
- Atlas, a Terminator-esque successor to the PETMAN
