Google buys company behind the robot that can run faster than Usain Bolt
- - Google recently purchase robotics company Boston Dynamics
- - This was the eighth robotics company that the search engine has bought in the last six
months - - Project leader Andy Rubin will not say what the company has planned for the cyborgs
- - Boston Dynamics developed robots for the U.S. military
- - One of their robots named Cheetah can travel at speeds up to 28.3mph, one mile per hour
faster than Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt
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Google announced yesterday the purchase of Boston Dynamics, a company that builds military robots - though no one knows what the search engine has planned for the cyborgs.
This was the eighth robotics acquisition in the past sixth months. The initiative is headed by Andy Rubin, the executive responsible for leading development on the Android smartphone, who says the project is a 'moonshot' and that product development is still several years away.
Up until their purchase by Google, Boston Dynamics was making research robots for the Defense Adanvanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. government agency responsibly for developing new military technologies.
Wanna race? Google recently purchased robotics company Boston Dynamics, which has developed a robot that can run faster than the fastest human
Google would not say how much they paid for the company and will not be releasing financial information. They said the company will fulfill all current government contracts, but that Google will not be taking on any more military work.
Boston Dynamics was founded in Waltham, Massachusetts by ex-MIT professor Dr Marc Raibert in 1992.
Since then, they have been developing animal-like robots that can travel faster than the fastest human, and even cover difficult terrains like snowy hills and icy roads.
Slipping and sliding: The Boston Dynamics robot named Big Dog can cover all types of terrain, and is pictured maintaining balance
even on a sheet of ice
Fast one: WildCat is another of Boston Dynamics' super fast robots. WildCat isn't as fast as Cheetah, but can cover a variety of terrains
While most of their work has been done for the U.S. government, Dr Daibert told the New York Times that he does not consider his company to be a military contractor and they are simply trying to advance robotics technology.
Second place: The robot named Cheetah can run one mile per hour quicker than the world's fastest sprinter, gold-medal Olympian Usain Bolt (pictured)
One of the projects they're currently working on for DARPA is the creation of a robot that can operate in a natural disaster, like the nuclear power plant meltown in Fukushima, Japan.
'Competitions like the DARPA Robotics Challenge stretch particpants to solve problems that matter and we hope to learn from the team's insight around disaster relief,' Mr Rubin said in a statement released by Google.
And the company has been pretty transparent on what they're developing. They even have their own YouTube account where they show off what their robots can do.
A robot named 'Cheetah' was designed for maximum speed, and was filmed running on a treadmill at speeds up to 29mph which is one mph faster than the world's fastest man - Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. That beat the previous record of 13.1 set by a robot in 1999.
Boston Dynamic's other robots aren't as fast but are designed to cover more treacherous terrain. Their collection includes both two- and four-legged robots that can climb walls and trees.
A robot named 'WildCat' was designed to run fast on all types of terrain and was filmed galloping in a parking lot.
The robot named Big Dog can climb a steep incline even in the snow, and is able to balance itself on slippery ice.
Dr Raibert is the so-called 'father of walking robots' in the U.S. and started the Leg Lab at Carnegie Mellon University in 1980 to explore walking machines.
He brought the lab to MIT before leaving academia to start engineering work for the miliatary and Sony.
'I am very excited by Andy and Google's ability to think very, very big, with the resources to make it happen,' he said.
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