We've watched Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot grow up before our very eyes over the past few years. But now, like a deadbeat dad, its parent company is saying goodbye.
Sources familiar with the matter tell Bloomberg that executives at Google parent company Alphabet Inc. have come to the conclusion that Boston Dynamics isn't likely to produce a marketable product over the next few years and thus, won't generate any real revenue. As a result, the robotics firm has been put up for sale.
One of the two unnamed sources said Amazon and the Toyota Research Institute are two possible acquirers.
The search giant was also well aware of public perception that Boston Dynamics' robotic creations were a bit creepy. Internal e-mails obtained by Bloomberg note the excitement from the tech press but adds that they're also starting to see some negative threads about the robots being terrifying / ready to take humans' jobs.
That's not exactly unfounded. After all, it's hard not to look at Boston Dynamics' BigDog robot and not view it as anything short of incredibly freaky. Just imagine this thing chasing you through the woods at night. No, thanks.
Boston Dynamics was founded by former MIT and Carnegie Mellon University professor Marc Raibert in 1992 and scooped up by Google in late 2013 for $500 million.