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Hyundai Motor to buy robot maker Boston Dynamics
It’s the company behind the strangely realistic four-legged robots. Now Boston Dynamics is about to get a new owner. Hyundai Motor is buying an 80% stake in the US-based company from Japan’s SoftBank group. The deal values the robot maker at $ 1.1 billion. Boston Dynamics creations have tried everything from herding sheep to sniffing out radiation at Chernobyl. This year they have even reinforced social distancing: “Let’s keep Singapore healthy. For your own safety and the safety of those around you, stand at least one meter away. “The company, however, has struggled to build a commercial business. Now Hyundai sees an opportunity. It wants to use robotic technology to expand automation at its unionized auto plants. Technology could also play a role in designing autonomous vehicles, drones and delivery robots. Hyundai says it sees robotics as accounting for a fifth of its future business. Analysts say the challenge will be prove that Boston Dynamics can make money and compete with cheaper Chinese rivals The company spun off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992. It was later bought by Google, before being taken over by SoftBank in 2017.
