Boston Dynamics AI Institute launched in US

The Group and Boston Dynamics will make an initial investment of over $400m in the new Institute, which will be based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and led by Marc Raibert, the founder of Boston Dynamics. 

As a research-first organisation, the Institute will work on solving the most important and difficult challenges facing the creation of advanced robots.

Specialists across AI, robotics, computing, machine learning and engineering will develop technology for robots and use it to advance their capabilities and usefulness. The Institute said its culture is designed to combine the best features of university research labs with corporate development labs while working in four core technical areas, namely cognitive AI, athletic AI, organic hardware design as well as ethics and policy.

“Our mission is to create future generations of advanced robots and intelligent machines that are smarter, more agile, perceptive and safer than anything that exists today,” Raibert said in a statement. “The unique structure of the Institute — top talent focused on fundamental solutions with sustained funding and excellent technical support — will help us create robots that are easier to use, more productive, able to perform a wider variety of tasks, and that are safer working with people.”

In addition to developing technology with its own staff, the Institute plans to partner with universities and corporate research labs.

In a separate development, Hyundai Motor Group recently announced plans to establish a Global Software Centre to lead the development of its software capabilities and technologies and advance the development of Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs).

The Group said the Centre ‘will be established on the basis of 42dot’, an autonomous driving software and mobility start-up based in Seoul, South Korea that was recently acquired by Hyundai.