Google DeepMind Hires Former CTO of Boston Dynamics as the Company Pushes Deeper Into Robotics
Google DeepMind has hired the former Boston Dynamics chief technology officer as the company delves deeper into robotics. Aaron Saunders, who is partly responsible for creating the world’s backflipping and dancing machines, joined the group as vice president of hardware engineering earlier this month.
The hire is a key part of CEO Demis Hassabis’ vision that Gemini will become a kind of robot operating system, similar to how Google provides its Android software to a wide range of smartphone makers.
“You can kind of think of it as an Android game. […] We want to build an AI system, a Gemini base, that can work almost immediately, in any body configuration,” Hassabis said in an interview with WIRED. “Obviously, humanoids, but also non-humanoids.”
Boston Dynamics is famous for developing legged robots, including dog-sized four-legged systems and humanoid machines, capable of impressive acrobatic feats. Saunders worked on a six-legged amphibious prototype before being promoted to vice president of engineering in 2018. He became CTO of Boston Dynamics in 2021.
Google DeepMind has been carrying out important research in robotics for years. As interest in more advanced robotic forms like humanoids increases, its researchers are increasing efforts to develop AI models to control robotic hardware systems.
Hassabis said he was enthusiastic about these advances. AI-based robotics “is going to have its watershed moment in the next couple of years, if I had to predict it,” he said.
Boston Dynamics is majority owned by South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Company. Hyundai bought its stake from SoftBank, which acquired the company from Google parent Alphabet in 2017.
The components and expertise needed to build legged robots have become more accessible in recent years. A number of US startups are now working on humanoids, including Agility Robotics, Figure AI, 1x and of course Tesla. Elon Musk recently said his company aims to produce one million of its Optimus humanoids over the next decade.
Chinese companies are also making strides in robotics and, compared to the United States, offer remarkably cheap legged machines. Unitree, based in Hangzhou, China, recently overtook Boston Dynamics as the largest supplier of four-legged systems to industries such as manufacturing and construction.
Hassabis admits he is impressed with Unitree, but says his focus is on software. “What interests me most is [AI] the brain is part of it,” he says, adding that the multimodal capabilities of Google DeepMind’s flagship model, Gemini, are particularly well suited to robotics.
