軟銀將收購谷歌機器狗生產商
SoftBank is buying robotics group Boston Dynamics — the makers of the bipedal Atlas, the jumping Sand Flea and the animal-like BigDog, Spot and Wildcat robots — from Alphabet, more than a year after Google’s parent first put the unit up for sale.
軟銀(SoftBank)正從谷歌(Google)母公司Alphabet手中收購機器人技術集團波士頓動力（Boston Dynamics）。該公司是雙足的Atlas、會跳躍的沙蚤(Sand Flea)、以及動物形的大狗(BigDog)、Spot和野貓(Wildcat)等機器人的生產者。此時距離Alphabet開始將其掛牌出售已有1年多時間。The terms of SoftBank’s acquisition, which also includes Japanese robotics group Schaft, were not disclosed.
軟銀此次收購（日本機器人集團Schaft也參與了收購）的條款並未對外公開。Google bought Boston Dynamics, a pioneer in mechanical robotics that originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in late 2013 at a time when Andy Rubin, creator of the Android mobile operating system, was assembling a group of roboticists for a project known internally as Replicant.
2013年末，谷歌收購了波士頓動力（Boston Dynamics），後者是機械機器人技術領域的拓荒者。該技術發源於麻省理工學院(MIT)。當時，安卓(Android)手機操作系統的創立者安迪?魯賓(Andy Rubin)正在爲一個在內部被成爲“Replicant”的項目召集一羣機器人專家。
After Mr Rubin left the company in 2014 and Google transformed into Alphabet, the technology conglomerate began to explore a sale of Boston Dynamics as part of an effort to refocus its robotics investment in areas such as self-driving cars.
在魯賓於2014年離開谷歌、谷歌轉型爲Alphabet之後，這家科技企業集團開始考慮出售波士頓動力（Boston Dynamics），爲的是不再聚焦於機器人投資，而是轉向自動駕駛汽車等領域。“Smart robotics are going to be a key driver of the next stage of the information revolution, and Marc [Raibert] and his team at Boston Dynamics are the clear technology leaders in advanced dynamic robots,” said Masayoshi Son in a statement announcing the deal on Friday morning in Tokyo.
“智能機器人技術將成爲信息革命下一階段的一個關鍵推動力，馬克?萊伯特和他在Boston Dynamics的團隊是先進動力機器人方面明顯的技術領導者，”孫正義(Masayoshi Son)週五上午在宣佈這項交易時發表聲明稱。Mr Son said that Boston Dynamics would continue to “explore applications that can help make life easier, safer and more fulfilling”.
孫正義表示，波士頓動力將繼續“探索那些能讓人們生活得更便利、更安全、享有更大成就感的應用”。Mr Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics, said that his team shared “SoftBank’s belief that advances in technology should be for the benefit of humanity”.
波士頓都動力創始人萊伯特表示，他的團隊“有着跟軟銀相同的信仰，認爲技術進步將給人類帶來好處”。
