The company says the project isn't a new product announcement, however.
Image credit: Base image: Medhi_san
Alphabet's intentto get rid of Boston Dynamicshasn't affected its other robotics programs, from the looks of it. On Japan's New Economic Summit stage, the Alphabet X lab ( formerly Google X) subsidiary SCHAFTunveiled a new bipedal unit that's capable of climbing stairs, carrying a loaded barbell on its "head" unit, laterally stepping through a row of seats at a soccer stadium and even maintaining balance when a section of pipe is placed under its feel. IEEE Spectrum writesthat this was part of former Google exec Andy Rubin's keynote at the event, but that the debut wasn't part of a product announcement or "indication of a specific product roadmap."
So it looks like the clip of the anonymous bot navigating a rocky beach in the video below is indicative of the project's lonely future. But hey, maybe director Christopher Nolan can put it to use in a sequel for Interstellar -- the biped strikes awfully similar that movie's monolithic robot companion, TARS.
#Robotson stage at #NEST2016! pic.twitter.com/qUyOtJPlye
— Rakuten Today (@RakutenToday) April 8, 2016