Once upon a time, if you wanted money to build humanoid robots, you basically had to get it from the military specifically, the high-risk, high-reward technology lab known as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. That changed late last year when Google’s own high-risk, high-reward technology lab Google X bought a string of companies that make robot legs, arms, eyes, wheels, and brains, with the apparent goal of building something like an android. It’s a win for roboticists, who now have a non-military patron with deep pockets. Google and DARPA have a lot in common — they both try to anticipate the future and make big bets on emerging technologies. Google even has a history of snapping up DARPA-funded technology the self-driving car came from a DARPA sponsored competition. The tension came to a head over the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), a $2 million competition for robot rescue workers that requires the machines to perform athletic feats like opening a door and going up and down a ladder. Google never signed up for the DRC, but it’s now intimately involved. Five of the eight teams that qualified through the DRC Trials in December are using Atlas, a humanoid made by Boston Dynamics. Boston Dynamics has a $10.8 million contract to provide Atlas robots and tech support for the DRC.
Google also happens to own the team that is most likely to win the DRC. Schaft, a Japanese robotics startup that was founded explicitly to compete in the competition, got 27 out of 32 possible points at the qualifying round in December, beating the runner-up by seven. Schaft received $2.6 million from DARPA to compete. So, Google is making advanced Humanoid Robot without military funding. Google has rejected this funding.
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