Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B • Hacker News Board

Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B

#101

Post by kaibee » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 2:08 PM UTC

itsoktocry wrote: post #92

keiferski wrote: post #72

Considering their current market cap, it surprises me that Tesla or Space X didn’t pick up BD. Seems like a natural acquisition for a rather low price.

> Considering their current market cap, it surprises me that Tesla or Space X didn’t pick up BD. Perhaps companies are leery of accepting Tesla's inflated shares as currency in any deal. SpaceX is still continuously raising cash, so I doubt they have a billion dollars to spend willy-nilly.

If they were, they could still sell them off immediately.

Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B

#102

Post by nickserv » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 2:08 PM UTC

runawaybottle wrote: post #12

If they can mass produce that dog that can carry groceries up stairs, I’d get one. Overall, I’d say it’s a play to make them more attractive to Apple as a tech company.

There was a robot mule a few years back.

Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B

#103

Post by jack_riminton » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 2:08 PM UTC

jack_riminton wrote: post #7

A neat reminder that most Mergers and Acquisitions are money losing and that robots on legs are a neat idea but mostly useless

Edit to say: current solutions are mostly useless but as people have quite rightly pointed out there will eventually be some good ones

Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B

#104

Post by usrusr » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 2:10 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #32

diveanon wrote: post #10

It blows my mind that a chat client is worth over 26 times what Boston Dynamics is.

I guess that means that the buyers think the chat client will take over the world but the robots won't.

Or perhaps would-be buyers do think that maybe robots will eventually take over the world, but not before taking over the company. You surely don't want to be on the wrong side of negotiations that make up the inaugural campaign of the battlebot union.

Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B

#105

Post by olau » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 2:13 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #72

Considering their current market cap, it surprises me that Tesla or Space X didn’t pick up BD. Seems like a natural acquisition for a rather low price.

Can you explain why? Neither needs dancing robots, and both seem capable of building things themselves if they need it?

Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B

#106

Post by jack_riminton » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

mewpmewp2 wrote: post #8

jack_riminton wrote: post #7

A neat reminder that most Mergers and Acquisitions are money losing and that robots on legs are a neat idea but mostly useless

You clearly haven't seen enough of Black Mirror.

You’ve clearly seen too much

Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B

#107

Post by jack_riminton » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

papaf wrote: post #60

jack_riminton wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s why I said mostly

I know its easy to forget during a pandemic, but the world is mostly outdoors.

And most outdoors is navigable by means other than legs

Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B

#108

Post by jack_riminton » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 2:15 PM UTC

orzig wrote: post #58

jack_riminton wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s why I said mostly

So the question is whether “most“ of long term robotics applications are on a simple flat surface or not. I truly do not know, but presumably they have some ideas in mind

False dichotomy. There are plenty of solutions for going over horrendous terrain that don’t involve legs

Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B

#109

Post by godzillabrennus » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 2:19 PM UTC

parhamn wrote: post #98

dustingetz wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the sucker is the stock market buyer, but those "suckers" are getting rich

The stock market buyer when the music stops*. The music doesn’t seem to stop these days.

Brrrrr goes the printing press

Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B

#110

Post by KONAir » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 2:26 PM UTC

stefan_ wrote: post #40

6a74 wrote: post #9

Makes sense. South Korea, where Hyundai is based, has by far the most robots per manufacturing employee [1]. They will make good use of the technology. [1] https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f719cf9f44...

Feels like we said this about previous buyers. All I'm seeing is another sucker to keep the money rolling for more of these sweet viral robot demos that never seem to materialize into much of anything.

Even if 1 out of 20 gimmicky bots work out or better yet solves a problem another Hyundai platform has makes that purchase worthy.