TechHive: From Android to automatons: Rubin's robots are Google's next moonshot

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thumbnail From Android to automatons: Rubin's robots are Google's next moonshot
Dec 4th 2013, 16:19, by Mark Hachman

Imagine this future: your smartphone chimes, you walk to the door, and touch your Android phone to a small tracked robot that hands you a package. Off it trundles back to a Google self-driving car, and on to the next delivery.

Sound far-fetched? Well, another piece of the puzzle dropped into place on Wednesday, when Google's Andy Rubin revealed that he was heading up Google's nascent robotics department. Speaking to The New York Times, Rubin actually revelaed little, other than that the company has picked up several robotics houses. The idea, however, is that the robotics project is less a "moonshot" than an attempt to achieve something like low earth orbit—a project designed to become a product sooner, rather than later.

As the Times notes, Google's other projects have ranged from the ambitious to the practical. They encompass Project Loon, which aims to float routers on giant balloons to provide Internet access to underserved areas; the self-driving car, which has spurred similar efforts by automakers even if Google doesn't eventually plan its own products; and Google Glass, which is already shipping to early adopters and will become a formal product sometime in 2014.

Talon robotXconomy.com
"Your order of "Breaking Bad: Season 2 (Blu-ray) is ready, ma'am."

"I am excited about Andy Rubin's next project," Larry Page, Google's chief executive, said on his Google+ page. "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."

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