How many of you are enthusiastic about new technologies?
Is the name Boston Dynamics familiar to you?
Today we will be discussing Boston Dynamics and some of the hidden secrets associated
with this robotics company.
How the field of robotics is influencing today’s world, we are witnessing it through the upgraded
humanoid robots, self-driving cars, and even the personal assistance services provided
by google, amazon, and so on.
So can we move on?
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Boston Dynamics is one of the leading American robotics companies established in the year
1992 by Marc Raibert.
The mission of this ambitious venture is to imagine and create exceptional robots that
enrich people’s lives.
Boston Dynamics had started to make robots about more than 20 years ago.
The 1980s was the beginning when Boston Dynamics was just a leg laboratory primarily focussing
on human-like robots performing all kinds of movements and motions.
At first, they did not announce any of their findings.
They were waiting for the right time to come which they eventually did.
Have you yet seen the viral robot dance released by the Boston Dynamics team?
It is really cool and funny.
The moves that a riveted metallic body does, really make us go crazy.
You should watch it if you have not yet.
Atlas is a human-like robot developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency DARPA.
The robot was unveiled to the public in 2013.
This robot has gone through a lot of improvements after that, especially in the area of locomotion.
This metal hunk of five feet and 190 pounds has inbuilt RGB cameras and other useful sensors.
The sensors help in motion, walking, acceleration, jumping, getting up, interacting with the
surroundings, and balancing too.
Do you know who the predecessor of Atlas is?
It is the Petman which was introduced in the year 2009.
Compared to the Petman, Atlas can do really complex duties by following the pre-programmed
algorithm.
The activities that Atlas can do are opening the door and getting into a building, removing
any blocking things, locating and closing a leaking valve or pipe, etc.
Even Though it is a joint collaboration with the Defense department of the US, they have
declared that Atlas will not be used for any defensive attacks or other offensive purposes.
The intriguing fact is that Atlas is ranked third on the top 10 costliest robots in the
world.
It will cost the buyer approximately 2 million dollars.
We had mentioned the name Marc Raibert before.
Do you know who he really is?
Marc is a former professor at MIT.
He got his University bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1973 and got
his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977.
From 1981 to 1986 he worked in the computer and robotics department of Carnegie Mellon
University, Pennsylvania.
In 1986, he started his career as a professor of electrical and computer engineering at
MIT, back to his own college.
During these times, Marc did a lot of research on physical robots including animals.
He remained the CEO of his company in 2013, even though the company was bought by Google
and then sold to Softbank in 2017.
We have just said something about Google buying Boston Dynamics.
Yes, that is the next unknown fact that we are going to discuss now.
Boston Dynamics was a part of the famous Google robotics army.
Within one year’s time, Google had purchased eight robotics companies.
And the eighth company was Boston Dynamics.
We know that Google is known to buy any company which has been good at what it is doing.
So it is a serious credit for the Boston Dynamics.
After two years of ownership, Google made a decision to sell Boston Dynamics.
This was done between Google and Softbank.
Google, in 2017 had sold the robotics company to the Japanese conglomerate Softbank for
about 165 million dollars as per some sources.
This telecommunication company has a main focus on advanced telecommunication, smart
services, AI, and clean energy.
Masayoshi Son, the CEO of Softbank said that smart robots are the key to the next information
revolution and Boston Dynamics is a leader in this field of advanced robotics.
But why did Google want to get rid of Boston Dynamics?
It is because both the companies were having interests but were not the same.
For getting a better understanding of this, it is important to look into the past.
We know that Boston Dynamics took its birth from a laboratory at MIT.
They initially worked for the US defense department for making super cool moving human robots.
But Google was not completely accepting of such a company.
Andy Rubin, the co-founder of android made the lead for the robotics company to leave
Google.
Who is currently owning Boston Dynamics?
It is not Google.
Yes, you heard it right.
There has been a buy-and-sell game going on a couple of times.
Softbank sold Boston Dynamics to the leading South Korean carmaker Hyundai in 2021.
This was a strategy from the side of Softbank to increase liquidity and to focus on other
investments.
Get ready to hear the numbers.
Softbank had made the sale for a whopping 1.1 billion US dollars!
Will Boston Dynamics help Hyundai to master autonomous driving technology?
Let us wait and watch.
At Least some of you must have heard about Spot.
Maybe you guys might have seen some videos of this slightly creepy four-legged robot
that resembles a dog, climbing stairs and all.
The well-known address for Spot is the dancing dog.
This potential murder-bot showcased in those viral clips is called Spot, and it is actually
a very friendly robot helper designed by the folks over at Boston Dynamics.
It has impressive dexterity and is capable of dragging some substantial weight.
Spot can sense many of the surrounding situations and behave according to that.
If it is tired, as we living creatures say, Spot knows to reach out to the charger and
regain its energy.
The main utilities for these animal robots are in bomb squads, disaster-prone, and disaster-hit
areas, in nuclear power plants, and in construction sites.
Even in your homes, Spot can be your guiding friend or you have to guide it to do its duties
for you.
When the videos of Spot started to rule over the internet, everyone was so excited to know
more and more about this 72.1 lbs robotic animal.
Boston Dynamics has finally made the robot available in the market for sale, which means
soon they’ll be out in the big wide world.
You and I can own a Spot for making our lives easier and maybe better.
Adaptively designed for harsh environments like building sites or the last strongholds
of humanity, this robot can withstand dusty and wet conditions.
Thanks to IP54 protection.
It is even capable of operating in temperatures ranging from -20°C to 45°C. The spot was
on sale from the year 2019 and the overall retail price to own one is about 75,000 US
dollars.
Any idea how many employees there would be working for Boston Dynamics?
You will surely be surprised to hear this.
Boston Dynamics has got only a hundred employees working for them.
Yes, they are not a huge team, but they are extremely focused and immensely talented to
create a revolution in the field of robotics.
Just imagine how such a small company is creating a humongous impact on global technology.
What an employee at Boston Dynamics has to say about this is that they are focusing only
on the interest and dedication that each worker has on their job, not on how many people are
there to work in each department.
They are more into the qualitative way of working and not the quantity.
Boston Dynamics is a potential robotics company that we all are looking up to.
The level of dedication that this company is showing towards each of its work is just
hats off.
That is pure passion for artificial intelligence and robotics.
In the future let us hope more AI robots will be made to Boston Dynamics’ credit.
A world without technology is unimaginable, and so is to imagine a world without AI technology.
Look anywhere around you, look just into your phone.
The inbuilt AI service can become at times your friend in need.
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