Softbank bought from Google Boston Dynamics

On Geektimes , news and articles about the achievements of the Google division called Boston Dynamics were published many times. Specialists of this division create robots - human-like, like bulls, dogs and in general it is not clear what. Many of them are fully or partially autonomous, they are able to keep balance, to help a person in performing daily tasks, to carry heavy loads.



But in 2016, Google announced its decision to sell Boston Dynamics (which was previously an independent company purchased by the corporation in 2013). A possible reason is the lack of commercial products (now Google’s is a priority) and the output of a video where a person “mocks” the robot. It is clear that the robot is neither cold nor hot, but Google cares about its reputation, which suffered a little after the demonstration of this video - a lot of outraged reviews appeared on the Web criticizing the behavior of the tester.



Today it became known that Google has found a buyer for the developer of the robot. This buyer was the Japanese company Softbank. According to the contract between the two organizations, Boston Dynamics comes under the jurisdiction of the Japanese. As part of Softbank Boston Dynamics will do the same thing as before - the creation of robots.



“Today, there are many tasks that a person cannot solve, using only his own capabilities. Smart robots should be a new stimulus, the next level of the information revolution, and Mark and his team at Boston Dynamics are leaders in the field of robotics. I am very pleased to invite them into the Softbank family, hoping to support them in their future work in the field of robotics, ”said the executive director and founder of the third largest Japanese mobile operator, Softbank Masayeshi Son.



In turn, the head of Boston Dynamics announced his readiness to work on new important robotic projects. In addition, Softbank also bought the Japanese company Schaft, which also creates robots and software for them. Unfortunately, the essence of the work of this company remains unknown - it contains its projects in secret. It is worth noting that for several years Schaft was one of the divisions of the Alphabet holding. Unfortunately, the amount of the transaction remains unknown, and it is currently being studied by regulators in both the United States and Japan.



Earlier, Softbank bought the chip manufacturer ARM Holdings for £ 24 billion. The processor cores and video accelerators of the ARM design are installed in the vast majority of modern smartphones and tablets.