To The Moon

Google+Boston Dynamics: The Android Moment for Robotics?

At this year's CES, Boston Dynamics announced a collaboration with $Alphabet(GOOGL)$   Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics model, highlighting Google's strength in the AI field.

Google's strategy of not engaging in hardware manufacturing but instead creating an ecosystem through open technology interfaces is once again being implemented in the robotics field. This collaboration with Boston Dynamics will attract more robot manufacturers to join the Gemini ecosystem, accelerating the positive cycle of "model iteration - data feedback - performance improvement". As the collaboration progresses, Google is poised to replicate Android's ecosystem success in the robotics field, building a full-scenario barrier from digital to physical.

Robot software revenue will have limited short-term impact on Google, but it can help Google secure an ecological niche for the next era. At the same time, the computing power demands of robotic scenarios will further drive chip demand in the industry.

The landscape of the U.S. robotics industry is gradually becoming clear:

As the industry chain matures, $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$   's Optimus, Figure AI, and Boston Dynamics will lead the first wave of humanoid robot commercialization. Here's an overview of the major players:

1. Boston Dynamics was founded in 1992 by MIT lab professor Marc Raibert. Google acquired it in 2013 through its robotics division. In 2017, Google decided to sell Boston Dynamics to SoftBank Group. However, in 2020, SoftBank sold its stake to Hyundai Motor Group, with Hyundai holding 80%. Hyundai has pushed for commercialization of its products, pioneering in areas such as industrial inspection and hazardous environment monitoring. Hyundai also plans to apply Boston Dynamics' technology to Hyundai's automated production lines to improve efficiency.

2. Figure AI is a humanoid robot startup founded in Silicon Valley in 2022 by serial entrepreneur Brett Adcock. After its Series C funding in 2025, it was valued at $39 billion, becoming the highest-valued humanoid robot company globally. OpenAI is one of Figure's major investors. In its early years, Figure AI used large models from OpenAI, but later Figure AI independently developed its own Helix AI system.

3. Tesla Optimus: The company has completed the core design of Optimus Gen 3 but hasn't released it yet. The previous version, Optimus Gen 2, is a prototype verification machine, not yet in mass production. Tesla insists on independent research and development of robotic chips, and the next generation will use the AI5 chip.

In the robots' chip sector, besides $NVIDIA(NVDA)$   and Tesla's robot chips, $Qualcomm(QCOM)$   has also made moves. At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Qualcomm launched the Dragonwing IQ10 series processors and a complete robot architecture to support real-time AI inference and edge computing capabilities for various robot forms, including industrial Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) and full-size humanoid robots. Qualcomm mentioned that Figure is collaborating with them to define the next-generation computing architecture to support Figure's humanoid robot platform expansion.

Apart from general-purpose humanoid robots, some vertical fields will also see major robot players emerge. For example, Agility Robotics focuses on logistics and warehousing, securing orders from $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ . $Intuitive Surgical (ISRG.US)$ dominates the surgical robot market, leading in minimally invasive surgery. These companies, along with Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and Figure AI, will collectively form the robotics ecosystem.

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