SoftBank to buy two robotics businesses from Alphabet Inc

Japan based SoftBank Group Corp recently made an announcement that a unit of the company will acquire two companies that constructs walking robots from Alphabet Inc.  The move will definitely add to the group's mounting artificial intelligence portfolio.

To be more precise, SoftBank will buy Boston Dynamics and Tokyo-based Schaft, two of these companies design and manufacture robots that replicate human movement. However, the terms of transactions are not revealed yet. Hitting a 17-year high, SoftBank's shares rose as much as 7.9 percent after the contract was announced.

"Smart robotics are going to be a key driver of the next stage of the information revolution, and Marc (Raibert) and his team at Boston Dynamics are the clear technology leaders in advanced dynamic robots," SoftBank Group Chairman Masayoshi Son said in a statement. Raibert is CEO and founder of Boston Dynamics.

In order to enhance its research and development capabilities, SoftBank has embarked on a destructive acquisition campaign. The group is assisting the $93 billion Vision Fund, the world's chief private equity fund, which hunts to invest in technologies predictable to nurture considerably in the near future, such as robotics and artificial intelligence. Schaft, a University of Tokyo by-product builds bipedal robots that are been designed to confer rough land.

"Robotics as a field has great potential, and we're happy to see Boston Dynamics and Schaft join the SoftBank team to continue contributing to the next generation of robotics," an Alphabet spokesperson said.

Boston Dynamics has created many robots that mimic human and animal movement including Atlas, a humanoid model that co-ordinates motion and stable using its arms and legs and can pick itself up off the ground when knocked over.

Best identified for building robots that emerge as if they fit in the science-fiction movies and are frequently developed or funded by the U.S. military. Its military projects would signify that the acquisition is expected to be subject to regulatory support from Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.