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Hyundai acquires controlling stake in Boston Dynamics for $880M

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Re: Hyundai acquires controlling stake in Boston Dynamics for $880M

#121

Post by jazzyjackson »

eric4smith wrote: post #24

These are one of the few times I can say that I don't care if Boston Dynamics are making money as yet. Boston Dynamics are one of the few real serious players in the robotics space worldwide doing deep R&D. Hyundai are basically paying for the BD Labs research. And they are well positioned to reap the products and techniques from the lab with their own manufacturing and engineering prowess and experience over the nex…

Automatic plugs for electric cars would be a welcome update, like getting your gas pumped in Jersey

Re: Hyundai acquires controlling stake in Boston Dynamics for $880M

#122

Post by saalweachter »

mrweasel wrote: post #19

Normally tech companies tend to be overpriced, but $880M for 80% of Boston Dynamics (total value of $1.1 billion), doesn't that seem a little low? Other tech companies can seemingly lose millions, as long as there's an advertising or data-mining angle to the product. Because Boston Dynamics aim to actually create physical products they then get valued lower?

Does this come down to the unit costs?

Your typical tech unicorn can at least tell a story of tens or hundreds of millions of potential customers (either paying or eyeball-monetized) with a unit cost of pennies per customers.

Boston Dynamics story is still "each robot costs tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars" and "almost no one has a use for one".

Honestly I'm not sure there's a story for a profitable market for humanoid robots until your robots are sophisticated enough to build themselves.

Re: Hyundai acquires controlling stake in Boston Dynamics for $880M

#123

Post by ineedasername »

For years they made the news with bots that seemed to have direct defense/militaristic use.

Not too long ago, or at least the last time I remember them hitting my news streams, was when they demonstrated a bot capable of handling moderately complex warehouse tasks.

If my reading of this sequence of events is correct, it is probably no coincidence that foreign investment came in after applications shifted from tactical militaristic use that would likely be restricted to the US & allies, and now also includes applications more generally applicable to uses outside of warfare.

It seems that military applications may be compelling, but plowshares are more economically interesting.

Re: Hyundai acquires controlling stake in Boston Dynamics for $880M

#125

Post by jrwoodruff »

mikeyouse wrote: post #83
nly wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google image search "car factory" and it's super obviously it's quite labour intensive. I'm not sure why an investment in robots has to be "new ground".

The Google Image search isn't reflective of an actual car factory.. There are of course hundreds of workers there but final assembly facilities produce something like 1 car/minute. They're heavily reliant on robots - most of the parts move around the floor on autonomous transports, the stamping is all robotic, all of the frame welding is robotic, paint is of course robotic. GM is of course tied in with the UAW, so th…

I've toured this plant. They don't show it in this video, but in the stamping and body areas of the plant, they don't even have the lights on at task levels - it's a dusk-level lighting until a human enters the space. This plant was built circa 2006, and is pretty amazing. Bring steel coils into one side of the factory, get a fully assembled car from the other side.

Re: Hyundai acquires controlling stake in Boston Dynamics for $880M

#126

Post by Baeocystin »

Honestly, of all the mega-corps that could have been the ones for this round of BD bailout, this isn't a bad choice at all. Hyundai already has a strong background in robotics, and hopefully they'll be able to help Boston Dynamics to finally capitalize on their excellent work.

I do wish controlling interest had managed to stay stateside, but, well, it is what it is.

Re: Hyundai acquires controlling stake in Boston Dynamics for $880M

#127

Post by sudosysgen »

accurrent wrote: post #46
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unitree's Go1 is currently $2.7K. I commented on the HN thread below that if walking robots have any use/future - A company like Unitree could become the DJI of the industry and make Boston Dynamics even more of a niche player than it already is. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27569631

As someone who has worked with both Unitree and Boston Dynamics I can tell you there is a marked difference in the ability for Boston dynamic's ability to walk vs Unitree's. The ANYMal is closer to Boston Dynamic's capabilities but also at a similar price point. That being said what Unitree is lacking is good software so theres a chance that they may be able to incrementally catch up while maintaining a relatively lo…

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I though motors aren't the main cost, rather the rest of the actuator?

Also Unitree is going to make so much money selling these as well as get so much mass producing experience they'll probably be able to figure out the algorithms. Methinks the code is easier to figure out than reliable and cheap hardware.

Re: Hyundai acquires controlling stake in Boston Dynamics for $880M

#129

Post by Judgmentality »

ineedasername wrote: post #123

For years they made the news with bots that seemed to have direct defense/militaristic use. Not too long ago, or at least the last time I remember them hitting my news streams, was when they demonstrated a bot capable of handling moderately complex warehouse tasks. If my reading of this sequence of events is correct, it is probably no coincidence that foreign investment came in after applications shifted from tactica…

That's not what happened. The military flat out rejected their robots for being too big, too loud, and too slow. So they pivoted to try to find a new customer.

Re: Hyundai acquires controlling stake in Boston Dynamics for $880M

#130

Post by jokoon »

ManuelKiessling wrote: post #107

And a fricking messenger app sold for $21.8 billion. Unbelievable.

Being able to do sentiment analysis on all the consumers of the world is a goldmine for revenue. Marketing doesn't have a good reputation, but information is power.
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