Google's robotics ambitions blew

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Google's massive acquisition of robotics companies caused a sensation in the robotics industry, which was highly anticipated and believed to promote the development of the robotics industry. However, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. Google did not make waves in the robotics industry through acquisitions. Google's goals in this field were unclear and it did not explain a clear vision to its employees. As a result, Google's robotics department was disbanded and many robotics experts acquired through acquisitions left.

Here is the article excerpt:

In 1982, the release of the movie “Blade Runner” introduced the world to “replicants,” the name given by director Ridley Scott to the incredibly lifelike robots in the original “Blade Runner” book that came from the imagination of author Philip K. Dick.

In the past few years, two other robot topics have attracted attention. One is Scott's sequel to Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, which only took in a disappointing $31.5 million in its opening weekend on October 6; the other is Google's mysterious robotics division called "Replicant", which failed even more miserably.

Crazy acquisition of robotics companies

Andy Rubin, the man who created Android, has been scooping up robotics experts since 2013, buying at least nine companies in total. The spree, a bet on Google's search-driven advertising revenue, appears to have helped establish the company as a quasi-leader in producing armies of intelligent machines. The acquisitions are actually making some of the most exciting efforts in robotics, and Google's massive reach and resources make it the best place to combine them into a single division. The robotics industry has welcomed the emergence of such a new giant. "People are ecstatic about this," said Rosanna Myers, CEO of robotics startup Carbon Robotics.

However, it didn’t last long. In these companies acquired by Google, their robots were only used in the offices of Alphabet, Google’s current parent company. In the past few months, at least three important robotics business leaders who joined Google in 2013 have left, and since four years is generally the vesting cycle of Google’s stock options, they may not be the last batch of people who choose to leave at this time. Myers believes that the loss of a large number of talents from Google is a good thing for the robotics industry, because these talents have actually been in trouble in the past few years.

"Google is holding back the industry by keeping these robotics experts, not advancing it," she said. Alexa Dennett, a spokeswoman for Google X, said the robotics project is likely to take at least five years to commercialize because major technological advances take time.

Rich Mahoney, director of the robotics department at Stanford International Research Institute, said that most of the robotics companies acquired by Google will not be able to launch products in the short term. "I think they are just recruiting talents or laying the technical foundation for future opportunities," he said.

Departments with unclear goals are disbanded

However, Google never spelled out what opportunities it hoped to seize with robotics. People familiar with the matter said Google's newly formed robotics division never communicated with the outside world, and the company never even clearly articulated its vision to employees who joined the company through acquisitions.

Rubin left Google in 2014 to start a venture capital firm and hardware startup incubator. Shortly after his departure, the Replicant division was disbanded, with employees scattered across Google, other Alphabet companies and elsewhere. Google's struggles with robotics are not isolated incidents; most companies in the field fail. But some failures lay the foundation for future successes.

The robotics industry is now worth $24.5 billion, with more than half coming from industrial robots, like those used in e-commerce companies’ warehouses, according to a report by venture capital firm Loup Ventures and industry group the International Federation of Robotics. The robotics market is expected to double in five years.

Google is not completely out of the game. In addition to its self-driving car unit Waymo, Google is investing in drone development. Last year, Google also ran a project called the "arm farm." In a room on Google's campus in Mountain View, California, at least 10 robotic arms are being tuned to grab and manipulate multiple objects.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.