Google acquires another robotics company

Speculation is growing that Google could be set to launch a game-changing robotics product, after the company confirmed the acquisition of yet another robotics firm.

Andy Rubin, who was previously in charge of the Android mobile operating system, is leading the new robotics team, but Google is yet to give any firm details of what it is working on.

Boston Dynamics, which is the company behind Cheetah, the world's fastest ever running robot, is the latest firm to have been snapped up by Google.

The search engine giant has now bought eight robotics companies this year alone, but has managed to keep any details of its plans for the sector under wraps for now.

Chief executive Larry Page, in a blog post on the Google Plus website, said: "I am excited about Andy Rubin's next project. His last big bet, Android, started off as a crazy idea that ended up putting a supercomputer in hundreds of millions of pockets. It is still very early days for this, but I can't wait to see the progress."

Android proved to be a huge success for Google and the mobile operating system is now a major rival for iOS, which is produced by Apple.

Google is currently working on self-driving cars, which are going through extensive testing in the US, while it has also launched Google Glass in the last 12 months.

Robotic future

Boston Dynamics contracts for the US military and many of its projects are funded by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It has also collaborated with companies such as Sony on robot toys in the past.

As well as Cheetah, Boston Dynamics is the company behind popular robots such as BigDog and WildCat, which have garnered millions of views online.

In after-hours trading today (December 16th), the share price of Google was down by 0.22 per cent, with stocks trading at 1.060.79.

Robotics is becoming a strong area of potential for a lot of the world's most dominant companies, with Amazon recently confirming it has plans to deliver products via drones.

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