By now it should be obvious that Google has got some major plans in the direction of robotics but, in case you needed any more convincing, the search company has provided funding to yet another robotics company. The company, Savioke, has yet to release an actual robot but the seed fund that it has recently received, from Google Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures and other investors, will be put towards launching their first “services industry” robot.
The investment amount, which includes Google’s contribution, isn’t a huge total in the grand scheme of things. Savioke has raised $2 million for the unspecified robot, though there’s no information on how much of that money comes from Google Ventures.
The BBC points out that typically Google Ventures operates independently of Google’s main interests but also highlights that previous investments have later resulted in Google buying up the company in question.
Savioke intends to start customer trials of their ROS-based (robot operating system) robot some time this year. Since the robot is based around the services industry, there are a variety of places that it could be deployed. We’ll be keeping an eye on what they have coming in future. Whatever it is, Google Ventures’ Andy Wheeler seems to think that it “…promises to be even more revolutionary” than previous work undertaken by Savoike CEO Steve Cousins.
