cdmagurus.com
12-04-2013, 01:00 PM
Imagine-this future: your smartphone chimes, you walk to the door, and touch your Android phone to a small tracked robot that hands you a package. Off it trundles back to a Google self-driving car, and on to the next delivery.
Sound far-fetched? Well, another piece of the puzzle dropped into place on Wednesday, when Google’s Andy Rubin revealed that he was heading up Google’s nascent robotics department. Speaking to- (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/technology/google-puts-money-on-robots-using-the-man-behind-android.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/technology/google-puts-money-on-robots-using-the-man-behind-android.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0), Rubin actually revelaed little, other than that the company has picked up several robotics houses. The idea, however, is that the robotics project is less a “moonshot” than an attempt to achieve something like low earth orbit—a project designed to become a product sooner, rather than later.
As the Times notes, Google’s other projects have ranged from the ambitious to the practical. They encompass Project Loon (http://www.techhive.com/article/2042120/googles-audacious-project-loon-wants-to-spread-the-net-with-high-flying-balloons.html), which aims to float routers on giant balloons to provide Internet access to underserved areas; the self-driving car (http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://www.techhive.com/article/242240/how_does_a_google_self_driving_car_drive_.html&usg=AFQjCNFMWTTUBNS9sAEqBkg2_8iW81Brmg), which has spurred similar efforts by automakers even if Google doesn’t eventually plan its own products; and Google Glass (http://%20www.-techhive.-com/-article/-2059222/-second--gen--google--glass--looks--dorkier--than--the--original.-html), which is already shipping to early adopters and will become a formal product sometime in 2014.
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/12/robot-sensor-package-100155062-medium.jpg (http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/12/robot-sensor-package-100155062-orig.jpg)Xconomy.com”Your order of “Breaking Bad: Season 2 (Blu-ray) is ready, ma’am.” ”I-am excited about Andy Rubin’s next project,” Larry Page, Google’s chief executive, said on his Google+ page (https://plus.google.com/+LarryPage/posts/UhgaJUb9y3S). “His last big bet, Android, started off as a crazy idea that ended up putting a supercomputer in hundreds of millions of pockets. -It is still very early days for this, but I can’t wait to see the progress.”
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here (http://cdmagurus.com/article/2069020/from-android-to-automations-rubins-robots-are-googles-next-moonshot.html#jump)
More... (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2069020/from-android-to-automations-rubins-robots-are-googles-next-moonshot.html#tk.rss_all)
Sound far-fetched? Well, another piece of the puzzle dropped into place on Wednesday, when Google’s Andy Rubin revealed that he was heading up Google’s nascent robotics department. Speaking to- (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/technology/google-puts-money-on-robots-using-the-man-behind-android.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/technology/google-puts-money-on-robots-using-the-man-behind-android.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0), Rubin actually revelaed little, other than that the company has picked up several robotics houses. The idea, however, is that the robotics project is less a “moonshot” than an attempt to achieve something like low earth orbit—a project designed to become a product sooner, rather than later.
As the Times notes, Google’s other projects have ranged from the ambitious to the practical. They encompass Project Loon (http://www.techhive.com/article/2042120/googles-audacious-project-loon-wants-to-spread-the-net-with-high-flying-balloons.html), which aims to float routers on giant balloons to provide Internet access to underserved areas; the self-driving car (http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://www.techhive.com/article/242240/how_does_a_google_self_driving_car_drive_.html&usg=AFQjCNFMWTTUBNS9sAEqBkg2_8iW81Brmg), which has spurred similar efforts by automakers even if Google doesn’t eventually plan its own products; and Google Glass (http://%20www.-techhive.-com/-article/-2059222/-second--gen--google--glass--looks--dorkier--than--the--original.-html), which is already shipping to early adopters and will become a formal product sometime in 2014.
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/12/robot-sensor-package-100155062-medium.jpg (http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/12/robot-sensor-package-100155062-orig.jpg)Xconomy.com”Your order of “Breaking Bad: Season 2 (Blu-ray) is ready, ma’am.” ”I-am excited about Andy Rubin’s next project,” Larry Page, Google’s chief executive, said on his Google+ page (https://plus.google.com/+LarryPage/posts/UhgaJUb9y3S). “His last big bet, Android, started off as a crazy idea that ended up putting a supercomputer in hundreds of millions of pockets. -It is still very early days for this, but I can’t wait to see the progress.”
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here (http://cdmagurus.com/article/2069020/from-android-to-automations-rubins-robots-are-googles-next-moonshot.html#jump)
More... (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2069020/from-android-to-automations-rubins-robots-are-googles-next-moonshot.html#tk.rss_all)