Google DeepMind Hires Former CTO of Boston Dynamics as the Company Pushes Deeper Into Robotics

DeepMind's chief says he envisions Gemini as an operating system for physical robots. The company has hired Aaron Saunders to help make that a reality.

Google DeepMind has hired the former Chief Technology Officer of Boston Dynamics as the company pushes deeper into robotics. Aaron Saunders, who is partly responsible for giving the world backflipping and dancing machines, joined as the VP of hardware engineering earlier this month.

The hire is a key part of CEO Demis Hassabis’ vision for Gemini to become a sort of robot operating system, similar to how Google supplies its Android software to an array of smartphone manufacturers.

“You can sort of think of it as a bit like an Android play [...] We want to build an AI system, a Gemini base, that can work almost out-of-the-box, across any body configuration,” Hassabis said in an interview with WIRED. “Obviously humanoids, but non-humanoids too.”

Boston ...