Larry Magid: Google Looks At Building Fleet Of Robots
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — Earlier this week, Amazon revealed plans to deliver packages by drones. Meanwhile, Google may be working on creating a fleet of robots of their own.
The New York Times reported that Google has acquired several tech companies over the past few months, in an effort to create a new generation of robots.
The project is going to be headed by Andy Rubin who is the guy behind the Android division, so he has a quite a track record. Rubin is also known for working at Apple as well as in the robotics industry before that.
Google Bringing On Fleet Of Robots
There are plenty of possibilities here with what they're calling their "moonshot" project, but they know there is a lot of work to be done.
If Amazon wants to deliver packages by drones, could Google put a robot in a self driving car to do something similar? It's worth pointing out that Google is already involved in package delivery through their experimental agreements with companies such as Target and Walgreen's.
It's apparent they want to compete with Amazon's decision to offer delivery via aerial drones. Google probably won't do the same exact thing, but it does make sense that companies like these are looking for ways to pretty much automate everything we do.
It also makes for an interesting scenario of introducing robots to the everyday world. Robots are already used in manufacturing jobs, but that is a very controlled situation. Much like the drones, the underlying technology is in place, now it's just a matter of putting it together and of course making it safe and affordable.
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