Google-parent Alphabet has launched a new robotics software firm ‘Intrinsic’. It develops software tools designed to make industrial robots, that are used to make products ranging from solar panels to cars, easier to use, less costly and more flexible.
Intrinsic is working to unlock the creative and economic potential of industrial robotics for millions more businesses, entrepreneurs and developers.
We are developing software tools designed to make industrial robots (which are used to make everything from solar panels to cars) easier to use, less costly and more flexible so that more people can use them to make new products, businesses and services,” Wendy Tan-White, CEO, said in a statement.
The firm has been incubating its technology at Google’s research unit, X, for over five years. Intrinsic said it’s developing software tools to make industrial robots easier to use, cheaper and more flexible, so they can expand the reach of consumers using them.
The software is designed to give automation robots added flexibility so they’ll become more popular for smaller businesses to use. For example, the company said it used its software to train a robot in two hours to perform a USB connection task that would’ve otherwise taken hundreds of hours to program. It also trained multiple robot arms to assemble architectural installations and build furniture.
Intrinsic will operate within Alphabet’s “Other Bets” segment, which has continuously been a cash burner. The area lost $1.145 billion on revenues of $198 million in the first quarter of 2021.
Alphabet’s hope has been to use X as an incubator to build a new area of growth for the company outside its core digital advertising business at Google. But X and the rest of Alphabet’s companies have yet to find a big, new moneymaker.
