In an age dominated by short attention spans, Boston Dynamics has managed to capture our imaginations time and again through sometimes frightening, sometimes adorable and always fascinating robots. But the company’s creations are far more than viral video machines. And now the founder and CEO Marc Raibert will join me for a fireside chat at Disrupt SF.
Formed in 1992 by former Carnegie Mellon and MIT professor Marc Raibert, Boston Dynamics creates nature-inspired quadruped and bipedal robots capable of climbing walls, jumping high, running fast, and all manner of other impressive feats.
The company’s most high-profile creation was unveiled in 2005. The four-legged robot BigDog captured the internet’s attention by way of a video that showed the robotic pack mule moving large payloads over rugged terrain and up hills, all while stubbornly refusing to be knocked over.
A series of equally impressive ‘bots, including the record-breaking Cheetah and the bipedal Petman continued to put the company on the public’s radar, while helping to attract the attention of Google, which purchased the company at the end of 2013, as part of its Google X research lab.

Raibert will be joining us next month at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco, September 12-14th at Pier 48. He’ll also be bringing along a friend – SpotMini, a long-legged quadruped capable of a wide range of autonomous actions. You can purchase tickets to the event here.
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