Google sees Amazon's drones, and raises its own army of robots

With Amazon winning headlines (if not universal praise) for its ambitions to deliver packages using drones, rival tech giant Google has announced its latest futuristic "moonshot": robots.

The initiative is led by Andy Rubin, the former head of Google's Android division, who stepped down from that role in March 2013.

Since then, Google has quietly acquired seven robotics companies according to the New York Times, which has published the first interview with Rubin on the company's plans.

"Like any moonshot, you have to think of time as a factor. We need enough runway and a 10-year vision," said Rubin, who started his career as a robotics engineer at Carl Zeiss, before later roles at Apple, Microsoft and Danger, before founding the startup acquired by Google to form the basis for Android.

"I have a history of making my hobbies into a career. This is the world’s greatest job. Being an engineer and a tinkerer, you start thinking about what you would want to build for yourself," Rubin told the New York Times.

The piece suggests Google is focusing more on robots for the manufacturing and retail industries, rather than consumer products. Robotics companies acquired by Google this year include Schaft, Industrial Perception, Meka, Redwood Robotics, Bot & Dolly, Autofuss and Holomni.

Google is maintaining Schaft's office in Japan, while basing its robotics efforts in Palo Alto, California. They will sit alongside the company's initiative to build self-driving cars, which it hopes to have on the market by 2017.

"The automated car project was science fiction when it started. Now it is coming within reach," said Rubin in his interview. "I feel with robotics it’s a green field. We’re building hardware, we’re building software. We’re building systems, so one team will be able to understand the whole stack."

The seven companies fuelling Google's robot ambitions

Schaft (Japan)
"We, Schaft Inc. create the future where we walk together with humanoid robots, through research and development, manufacture and sales of humanoid robots."

Industrial Perception (US)
"A leader in 3D vision-guided robot technology and enables industrial robots to assume challenging logistical tasks such as truck and container unloading, e-commerce fulfillment and package sorting."

Meka (US)
"A provider of world-class robotic systems for researchers. At Meka we develop human-safe, human-soft, and human-scale robot technologies that will enable the robots of tomorrow to work alongside people in the home and the workplace."

Redwood Robotics (US)
"Our robotic arms are simple to teach, affordable, and safe to operate around humans. Redwood manipulators will make professionals more productive, reduce the stress of dull and repetitive tasks, and allow manufacturers and service providers alike to respond flexibly to ever-changing market needs."

Bot & Dolly (US)
"Bot & Dolly is a design and engineering studio that specialises in automation, robotics, and filmmaking. It's our mission to advance motion control and automation as a creative medium, and build world-class tools that enable others to do the same."

Autofuss (US)
"We thrive on being a hub of creative collaboration by colliding visual artists with programmers, engineers with designers, storytellers with illustrators, architects with machinists." (Autofuss is the outlier here, being a creative agency rather than a robotics company – but according to the NYT piece, it's part of Rubin's robotics plans).

Holomni (US)
"Holomni powered caster modules create a holonomic omnidirectional vehicle. A Holomni-powered vehicle can instantaneously produce omnidirectional accelerations and forces."