Google wants Intrinsic to be Android for robots moves into physical AI

Google It became a powerhouse in smartphones by creating the Android operating system and partnering with mobile phone manufacturers who needed an answer. Apple’s iPhone. Now the search giant has a similar plan to combat robotics.

Earlier this week, Google announced that Intrinsic, an internal robotics software project, would be moving from the “Other Bets” category to the parent company.

Just as Android runs on phones and tablets made by Samsung, Motorola, China’s Xiaomi and others, Intrinsic does the same for robotic systems, but the partner companies’ names are much less well-known. These include FANUC, Universal Robots and KUKA, which focus primarily on industrial robots. Potential competitors include Amazon and Tesla.

McKinsey projects The general-purpose robot market is set to reach $370 billion by 2040, opening up a potentially huge opportunity for Google as AI moves from the digital world of chatbots, rendering, and AI agents to the physical world.

Internal says website He said he created an operating system so manufacturers could “focus more on solving the problem and not on the plumbing.” As with Android, developers leverage Intrinsic’s out-of-the-box capabilities to develop applications more efficiently.

“We’re trying to make this accessible to everyone,” Intrinsic CEO Wendy Tan White said in an interview with CNBC last year. “It doesn’t matter what the hardware is and what the AI ​​model is. We’ll help you put it together so you can access it.”

By being incorporated within Google, Intrinsic will be closer to the company’s artificial intelligence models, infrastructure and cloud tools. It will continue to operate under the Intrinsic brand and as a separate group within Google under the leadership of Tan White, who runs the company, which graduated from Alphabet’s X “moonshot factory” in 2021.

Google has a complicated history with robotics.

In 2013, Alphabet acquired Boston Dynamics, known for its walking robots, and the Japanese humanoid robot company Schaft. It has also acquired several vision startups. After several years of trying to build a clear business in this space, Google sold Boston Dynamics and Schaft to SoftBank for an undisclosed amount in 2017.

The latest explosion in artificial intelligence has changed the game.

Google launched two new AI models in mid-2025: Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER (extended reasoning) that incorporate generative AI into physical action commands to control robots. Google said: blog post at the time it would partner with Apptronik, a Texas-based robotics developer, to “build the next generation of humanoid robots with Gemini 2.0.”

Last month, Google teamed up with Boston Dynamics to integrate Gemini into Atlas humanoid robots designed for manufacturing environments. Google’s DeepMind unit in November Hired former CTO of Boston Dynamics.

Intrinsic’s team will work closely with DeepMind’s AI technology stack, from research and model development to distribution and day-to-day operations in manufacturing and logistics, the company said. He will also work more closely with Google’s Gemini, infrastructure and cloud teams.

Internal technology chief Brian Gerkey said in an interview that the company has the advantage of building on top of DeepMind’s models, adding proprietary data and “standing on the shoulders” of its technology.

Late last year, Intrinsic and Foxconn announced A partnership to deploy AI robots to assemble electronics in Foxconn’s US factories. AI server production in its current form is primarily a mix of strict automation and manual production.

Google is pouring money into data centers and hardware to keep up with the growing use of AI tools and models. Google’s AI infrastructure boss Amin Vahdat told employees that the company must double its service capacity every six months to meet demand for AI services, CNBC reported in November.

“You want to focus on areas where there is a lot of investment in the end market,” Tan White said. “And right now the electronics market is going crazy, in part because of the need for more products and computing. There’s huge demand.”

2025 Deloitte research It found that 80% of 600 manufacturing executives surveyed plan to invest 20% or more of their improvement budgets in smart manufacturing initiatives focused on core tools and technologies.

Intrinsic’s flagship product, Flowstate, is a web-based platform that allows users to create robotic applications without having to write thousands of lines of code. The company also has open-source tools that can help create bot apps, similar to Google’s Android approach.

Tan White said Google CEO Sundar Pichai even made comparisons with the company’s mobile strategy.

“He said this is the Android of robotics,” said Tan White, noting that Pichai worked on Chrome and Android before becoming CEO. “I think he has a lot of credibility.”

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