Usman Salis
⬤ Google's DeepMind just made a big move in robotics by hiring Aaron Saunders, who used to run engineering at Boston Dynamics. The goal? Turn Gemini into a universal operating system that any robot can use. Saunders previously built Atlas and Spot, and now he's going to help Alphabet GOOGL push deeper into the humanoid and industrial robotics space.
⬤ What DeepMind is building is basically an "Android for robots"—a shared AI brain that works across different robot bodies. Instead of every company creating its own isolated system, the idea is to have 10 or more humanoid manufacturers all using the same cognitive layer. CEO Demis Hassabis has been talking about flexible robotic intelligence for years, and this hire shows they're serious about getting there. The competition is heating up fast, with Tesla, Figure, and Agility Robotics all racing toward general-purpose humanoids.
⬤ Alphabet's edge comes from Gemini's multimodal reasoning, which is exactly what robots need to understand and interact with the real world. Rather than locking into one robot design, DeepMind wants to create a cognitive interface that any manufacturer can plug into. That could speed up development across the industry and cut integration costs, creating a shared ecosystem instead of a bunch of disconnected prototypes.
⬤ This signals a major shift in AI - from purely digital systems to physically embodied intelligence. A universal robot operating system would completely reshape automation markets, opening doors in logistics, manufacturing, and consumer robotics. For investors watching GOOGL, this is a long-term play on one of the most strategically important areas in next-gen AI.
Usman Salis
