Google Buys Boston Dynamics, Maker of Incredibly Agile Robots for Rubin's Robots

If buying seven robotics companies wasn't enough evidence of Google's full-fledged commitment to its new robot "Moonshot" project, the company's latest purchase makes it clear. Well known robot makers Boston Dynamics is now part of the Google bot project.

For those who are not familiar with the company, Boston Dynamics is one of the most high-tech robotics firms in the United States. It specializes in engineering robots with human and animal-like movement. Often making robots for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) challenges, Boston Dynamics has made several robots displaying an incredible mastery of mobility and balance.

Boston Dynamics' projects include Petman and Atlas, two remarkably advanced humanoid robots whose gait is so similar to actual humans that it's kind of creepy. Here's Petman doing his "Terminator on a treadmill" routine.

And here's Atlas tip-toeing through rubble and keeping his balance. Atlas is an updated humanoid robot designed for a DARPA challenge to produce "disaster response robots," which could potentially be used to search for survivors in dangerous situations, like a collapsed building after an earthquake.

The company has also made robots that mimic animal movements, such as BigDog, which can climb through tricky terrain, keep its balance while slipping on ice, and potentially carry heavy loads for miles.

Cheetah, meanwhile, was built for speed. This Boston Dynamics project manages 28.3 miles per hour while tethered, which is about 0.5 miles per hour faster than the fastest recorded human sprint by Usain Bolt.

Boston Dynamics was created in 1992 by former MIT professor Marc Raibert. Since its founding, the company hasn't directly developed robots for commercial use, instead focusing advanced engineering research for DARPA and other defense clients, as well as collaborating with other robotics firms.

Google said its newly acquired robotics company - the eighth this year - will continue to honor existing military contracts, but Google hasn't expressed an interest in pursuing any new defense-related contracts, as the owner of Boston Dynamics, going forward.

With the addition of Boston Dynamics, Google has solidified the mobility portion of its robot project, which the Mountain View giant announced earlier in December.

Former Android lead Andy Rubin has been assigned to the project, which, according to experts, appears to be aimed, at least initially, at automating retail supply chains. With the eight companies Google has bought for the project, it appears that a future with real Google Androids, capable of doing repetitive manufacturing, shipping, and even delivery tasks is not out of the question. However, Rubin and Google have been mum on the details of what products might be produced from the project.

Rubin himself said that, though it's being called a "moonshot" project - joining other fantastic Google projects like extending human life and the self-driving Google car - the robotics initiative is interested in producing results on a relatively short time frame.