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Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

therobotreport.com

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Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#71

Post by jamestimmins »

snemvalts wrote: post #58
llboston wrote: post #37

I have been secretly hoping Tesla to buy Boston Dynamics and revolutionize autonomous manufacturing. One day, a Starship fleet will send an army of robots to Mars and build out a city.

Robots are the goal for Tesla - no labor laws needed for them (probably not for people that build them as well)! All jokes aside, Hyundai can probably do much more with Boston Dynamics than Tesla. Tesla has already failed to automate, using the exact same method as Ford in the 80s. Doubt that throwing more advanced tech at it solves a fundamental logistics problem.

Do you know if Tesla's challenges have been written up anywhere? I'm very curious what they tried and failed to automate.

Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#72

Post by stingrae »

dragonelite wrote: post #39
stingrae wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much this has changed with the continued increase in stock values and new companies going public. Uber, Doordash, etc. aren't the losers that they appeared to be even just a couple months ago.

If one thing i have seen stock market != real world economics. You had a car rental go broke and its stock got pumped 500% or so after the fact.

sure. But for Softbank, this current bump (which is think is artificial and going to pop) could allow for them to liquidate some of their positions (likely without making too much of a price disturbance) to allow for diversification.

Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#73

Post by jskajakzkjx »

tibiahurried wrote: post #23
ialyos wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Robots are very hard, and Boston Dynamics has been around for almost 40 years and still isn't anywhere close to making a lot of money. Apps have added a lot more value to my life than BD ever has. Fwiw I interviewed with BD a few years ago, and am focusing on robotics, so I'd like the opposite to be true

> Apps have added a lot more value to my life than BD ever has. This thinking will never take humans on Mars! Someone must work on hard, expensive problems. Human race does won't move forward with a chat but with the hard work of scientist, engineers etc ...

A lot of the hard work of scientists and engineers is enabled by chats, though.

Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#74

Post by freeflight »

llboston wrote: post #37

I have been secretly hoping Tesla to buy Boston Dynamics and revolutionize autonomous manufacturing. One day, a Starship fleet will send an army of robots to Mars and build out a city.

> revolutionize autonomous manufacturing

Hyundai Robotics is a much bigger chance for this, particularly considering they've rather concrete plans for it already trough their HGZN partnership [0].

Makes much more sense than with Tesla, all Tesla can offer on that front is battery tech, which is kinda useless for autonomous manufacturing as everything there can be easily powered trough a line.

[0] https://roboticsandautomationnews.com/2020/04/21/hgzn-and-hy...

Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#75

Post by libra1 »

chadash wrote: post #12
aussiegreenie wrote: post #5

This just demonstrates the "price gap" between virtual and "real world" companies. An app with a few thousand uses with worth more than one of the world's best engineering companies. Even if either has a path to profitability.

a) Boston Dynamics might be a cool company, but they don't seem to have a widely used product on the market (and they were founded 28 years ago). b) Is there a specific app with just a few thousand users that sold for more than $1B?

Clubhouse was worth ~$100m with only 1,500 users in May; might be more now: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/20/clubhouse-app-is-where-mc-ha....

Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#76

Post by mywittyname »

rmah wrote: post #28
dhruvarora013 wrote: post #14

Could someone explain why this acquisition makes sense? The core competencies between the two companies seem to have little overlap from my outsider perspective. Is this diversification or does Hyundai make more than automobiles?

Hyundai is a South Korean chaebol (sort of like a conglomerate). While it was ostensibly restructured into "independent" groups a while back, let's just say that, in practice, they're not really independent in the western sense. In addition to building cars and trucks, Hyundai does the following: * building construction (everything from homes to office and factories) * civil engineering (bridges, dams, shipyards, etc…

Yeah, they are basically the Korean equivalent to GE, Siemens, Philips, Rockwell, United Tech, Northrop, etc.

Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#77

Post by rtx »

dragonelite wrote: post #39
stingrae wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much this has changed with the continued increase in stock values and new companies going public. Uber, Doordash, etc. aren't the losers that they appeared to be even just a couple months ago.

If one thing i have seen stock market != real world economics. You had a car rental go broke and its stock got pumped 500% or so after the fact.

Stock market is real, what's fake is all the modelling they do in excel.

Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#80

Post by PicassoCTs »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #63
317070 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Word has it Marc Raibert is not the easiest person to work with as an acquiring company, in a sense that he will keep control of the company, and do whatever he wants with it. Good for him, I think.

Doing what you want works until the money runs out.

If your potential grows faster then the money runs out, you can play this game indefinitely. Source: River in Brazil
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