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2023: Project Closure
At the end of February 2023, it became the closure of the Everyday Robots division, which was developing robots for everyday tasks. The folding of the business occurs against the background of mass layoffs in the Alphabet holding (its basis is Google).
Prototypes of one-armed wheeled robots developed by Everyday Robots have been tested at Google offices since 2021, and in 2022 they received an update thanks to Google artificial intelligence research, which allowed them to process commands in natural language. The company has taught more than a hundred wheeled and one-armed robots how to clean tables in cafes, separate garbage from waste and open doors.
On January 20, 2023, Alphabet announced the upcoming dismissal of about 12 thousand employees, which is 6% of the total number of employees, and Everyday Robots is one of the few projects disbanded as part of budget cuts. However, the creation of robots, according to Wired, capable of performing tasks in unstructured and unpredictable environments, is quite difficult and as a result Alphabet decided to abandon the project. Part of the technology and part of the Everyday Robots team will be included in existing robotics projects within Google Research.
A former Everyday Robots employee told Wired that the unit struggled to determine its mission. The team could not decide whether it was targeting an advanced research project or a commercially viable product. Everyday Robots employed more than 200 people as of early 2023, and Alphabet gave no details on how many of those employees or exactly which would remain at the company.
Wired notes that robots can perform a very large number of operations. They do the work quickly, they don't make mistakes, they don't get tired. Robots free employees from routine operations, leaving more time for other tasks. The development of such digital employees is a fast, simple and inexpensive process. It would seem that there are continuous advantages. But when deciding which processes to robotize, economic efficiency should not be overlooked.[1]
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