South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Company announced that it will be acquiring Boston Dynamics for $921 million from Softbank. The robot maker is best known for its four-legged robot dog named Spot, but also countless other machines over the years, like BigDog, Atlas, and lots more. Boston Dynamics was originally founded by former professor Marc Raibert and spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992. Google, Alphabet Inc., took over Boston Dynamics in 2013 before selling it to SoftBank in 2017. Read more for a video of MBKHD with Spot.
Boston Dynamics clients include Ford Motor Co, which leased two Spot robots in July as part of a pilot program. Hyundai Motor Group is set to officially announce the acquisition later on Friday, after getting approval from boards at each of the three units.
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The acquisition would help Hyundai offer a seamless approach to goods delivery with the help of delivery robots and driverless vehicles such as cars and planes. But Hyundai needs to prove that Boston Dynamics can be commercially successful and is capable of competing with cheaper Chinese rivals,” said Koh Tae-bong, an analyst at Hi Investment & Securities.
