A Peek Inside Google’s Efforts to Create a General-Purpose Robot

Videos of Google-owned robots, some that look like mechanical bulls and others resembling humanoids from sci-fi movies, have been viewed more than 90 million times online. Despite that YouTube fame, Google is reluctant to discuss its robotics operation publicly. Behind the scenes, the company is laying the groundwork for intelligent, multipurpose robots, according to interviews with people familiar with the projects and research published in academic repositories.

As part of a restructuring effort to separate the Google Internet services from research arms and unrelated businesses, the company will create a separate division for robotics within the renamed umbrella entity Alphabet, says a person familiar with the plans. Boston Dynamics—a maker of robots for the U.S. military, Sony, and others that developed the robots popular on YouTube—will operate with some independence within the newly formed group, says the person, who requested not to be named because the plans aren’t public.