Google's next project will be robots.
The tech and Internet giant has acquired seven robotics companies as part of its next long-term "moonshot" program, CNET reported.
Other "moonshot" programs have included self-driving cars and Google Glass, engineer Andy Rubin, who built the Android software for smartphones, told The New York Times.
"Like any moonshot, you have to think of time as a factor. We need enough runway and a 10-year vision," Rubin said.
While the scope of the robotics program is limited for now, mostly focusing on manufacturing, CEO Larry Page seems confident in Rubin's work and the program's possibilities.
"His last big bet, Android, started off as a crazy idea that ended up putting a supercomputer in hundreds of millions of pockets. It is still very early days for this, but I can't wait to see the progress," Page said in a Google+ post.
Robots are already used in manufacturing to weld car frames and place windshields, but "there's a lot more that can be done with technological automation," CNET noted.
Combing hardware and software, the robotics program follows Google's tradition of building its own servers and data centers and writing its own software.
"We're building systems, so one team will be able to understand the whole stack," Rubin told the Times.
Google has acquired an impressive team of robotics companies: Schaft, former Tokyo University roboticists making a humanoid robot; Industrial Perception, a startup that focuses on computer vision and robots to load and unload trucks; Meka, which develops robotic manipulators intended for work with humans; Redwood Robotics, which makes robotic arms; Bot & Dolly, which created robotic arms used in the movie "Gravity"; sister company Autofuss; and Holomni, which manufactures powered caster wheels.
News of the program comes in the wake of Amazon's recent announcement about delivery drones that would bring packages to customers in half an hour or less.
Rubin, 50, has long exhibited a passion for smart machines and worked as a robotics engineer at German manufacturing company Carl Zeiss before joining Apple in the 1990s.
"I have a history of making my hobbies into a career," he told the Times in a phone interview. "This is the world's greatest job. Being an engineer and a tinkerer, you start thinking about what you would want to build for yourself."
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