Alphabet is shutting down its Everyday Robots project, another casualty of job cuts at Google’s parent company and the latest in a long line of failed hardware companies.
According to a report cabling, Everyday Robots will no longer exist as a low-key team at the tech giant. “Everyday Robots will no longer be a separate project within Alphabet,” said Denise Gamboa, director of marketing and communications for Everyday Robots, told the publication. “Some of the technology and some of the equipment will be consolidated into existing robotics efforts within Google Research.”
We’ve reached out to Alphabet to confirm, and will update this story if we hear more details about the exact number of jobs affected.
Everyday Robots was launched in 2019, with the goal of designing armed robots that could help in home and office environments; taking on light custodial jobs like sorting trash and clearing tables. The project’s prototype, the one-armed wheeled robots, were tested at Google offices starting in 2021, and in 2022 received an upgrade courtesy of Google’s AI language research, allowing them to process language commands. natural language.
You can see the robots in action in the demo video below:
However, building robots that can take on that job in unstructured and unpredictable environments like offices is notoriously difficult. After decades of research and great success creating industrial robots, we have only managed to conquer one household task with mobile machines: vacuuming. (Are regular appliances like dishwashers robots? You can discuss that in the comments.)
It’s a disappointing end for another of Alphabet’s ambitious hardware ventures. A decade ago, Google embarked on a robotics acquisition spree, buying numerous companies including Boston Dynamics. However, the initiative was led by executive Andy Rubin, who left the company the following year after being accused of sexual misconduct while supposedly under the protection of Google’s leadership. Despite this initial burst of activity, Alphabet’s robotics ventures never got off the ground, though the company continues to produce research in the area.
