Iconic Boston Dynamics Robots Seek Stable Employment

Human baseball fans weren’t allowed to attend the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks game on July 7, but that didn’t keep a collection of humanoid robots from supporting the home team with a peppy fight song while 20 mechanical dogs in baseball uniforms bopped along in unison. The canines were made by Boston Dynamics, and their performance perfectly illustrated the conundrum the company has faced since its founding almost three decades ago: It’s created what may be the world’s most technologically sophisticated—and expensive—parlor trick.

Boston Dynamics has long represented the cutting edge of robotics in popular culture, captivating YouTube audiences with the fluid movements of its animal- and human-like machines. It’s had bouts of profitability over its 28 years of existence, but recently has been losing millions of dollars a year, vexing SoftBank Group Corp., as it did its previous owner, Google. SoftBank is now preparing to sell it to Hyundai Motor Co. for about $1 billion, Bloomberg reported earlier this month.